Bamon's diaries Infallible
by Tracie Davies
Summary: Damon and Bonnie are on the run after Damon is accused of killing Julian by his goons. Can they survive everything that is thrown at them? And will they ever admit their true feelings? Let's go on a journey of love, death and endless torment as Damon and Bonnie learn what they both desire the most as they fight to keep the other alive against all odds.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

He sat there in front of the fire staring into the flickering flames and he felt nothing. Nothing but an emptiness that seemed to envelop his entire soul. He knew what he had done was something beyond his own rational capabilities. But it was done now and he had to learn to deal with it, to accept it for what it was, and he had to move on from it. Holding back wouldn't do him or anyone close to him any good. He knew that. He had to protect those he cared about from his own dark nature. And if he left it consume him, and then he knew that he would only put those very people that he needed to protect, in dire straits.

Moving on was something that he now knew he should have done a long time ago. Way before he had arrived in Mystic falls. But he also knew that a bigger, more stubborn, part of him would never allow himself open to risk even more pain into his heart. He had known enough pain to cover at least four lifetimes in just one. He had never thought of his human life being one outside of his vampire life and he had lived as a vampire for a lot longer than he had been a mere human. He loved being a vampire. Probably more than he had ever loved anything or anyone else. But that didn't stop him from missing being human and he would have given anything to be human again. He would give up anything to be human. He would even give up his own brother and he loved him more than he ever had loved anyone else. But now it was never going to be and he hated himself all the more for it.

He drained his glass, placing it onto the coffee table next to him and closed his eyes. Still feeling the remnants of the blows that his brother had rained down upon him. He deserved each one. He knew he had and he knew better than many that he was a pig ignorant, selfish, arrogant, mean, manipulative, reckless and impulsive dick. But he had never claimed to be anything other than who he was. And he was so tired of trying to be someone he wasn't. Someone like his brother, Stefan. Someone he knew deep down he could never be. Someone that she had wanted him to be and now he knew that she was only in love with the idea of who he could become. Who she tried so desperately hard to make him. She wanted him to be his brother. Someone he would never be.

He could put on the hero hair. He could save as many people he didn't care about as he wanted to. But he could never stop being the man that he had been born as a vampire to be. And he needed to be accepted as the man he was and not for the man that he could be made into. Deep down he knew there was still some good in him from his human life. Parts of him that he had kept buried deeply for so long. And he could allow them to surface. But only if he wanted them too. And being forced to feel those old unforgotten good pieces of him made them retract and bury them deeper within him and his vampire nature always rebelled and he became darker, more volatile.

He looked down at the framed photo that he held in his shaking hands. The one of him and Elena taken the summer just before he had found himself thrown back in time to nineteen ninety four. He closed his eyes again and rubbed at his temple with his free hand. He tried to feel something, anything but the numbness that had swallowed him whole. He got to his feet and threw the photo into the fire, his hand grabbing at the mantel to help steady him.

Taking a deep breath he pushed himself away from the mantel and spun around and looked into green eyes and his heart skipped a beat, then it slowed down to a standstill in his chest when he saw the pain etched across her face and he made a start to go to her to try and comfort her. But the look she was giving him stopped him in his tracks.

"Damon" she said, her eyes filling with tears that he knew she wasn't about to shred. "Julian is dead. You have to leave before they come for you"

He didn't know what she was saying. He heard the words he had been longing to hear since Julian came back from the stone. But now that he was hearing them, he assumed that he had hit his head and was lost in an unconscious dream. But the worry in her tone was real. He felt it hitting him in the chest with a pain that he had never felt before over anyone but his mother.

"How?" was the only thing he could bring himself to say past the miasma of broken thoughts that streamed through his head like a jumbled mess.

"After the fight between you and Julian, Stefan and Valerie cloaked him and staked him with the back of a chair. But that doesn't matter right now" she went and stood in front of him, looking up into his face. "We need to get you some place safe before his minions come and tear you apart"

Damon stood there, his hand reached out and grabbed her by the shoulder, his eyes searching her face for anything other than fear, but he couldn't see anything past her desperation to save him and so he slowly nodded, closing his eyes.

"Ok" he whispered, looking deeply into her eyes. "Where are we going?"

"There is a safe house that we can hide out at" Bonnie pulled out her phone and called the last number that had called her. "Go pack" she urged him as she pushed him out of the room. "We leave in five minutes"

He stumbled out of the room, his thoughts flying away from him again. And he wished that she and his brother would stop trying to save him by putting their own lives in constant danger.

He was growing bored of the highway now and pulled off at the next exit. He glanced at her in the seat next to him, her eyes closed as she laid back in the seat and he smiled to himself, feeling the numbness that had snatched a hold of him melting away with each second that passed by.

"You do know that it is rude to watch people sleeping" she opened her eyes and pulled a face at him and they both started to laugh.

"One, you were not sleeping" he told her, taking a left turn into the city centre. "And two, you look like a little tinsy tiny angelic wicked witch from the west when you are pretending to be asleep" he chuckled at her fake scowling face.

She mock punched him on the arm; yawning and he frowned down at the clock and got the shock of his life when he saw that it was almost one am.

"Are you hungry" he asked her with a little frown. "You look tired, hungry and in need of a drink"

She smiled at him and nodded before yawing a little. "Sounds good to me. We have been driving now, how long?"

"Six, maybe seven hours" he told her as he pulled the car over to the side of the road and parked up. "You wanted as far away as we could get from Julian's band of legless men" he rubbed at his tired eyes and turned a bright smile on her.

"You seem to brighten up more the further we get form Mystic falls" she smiled back at him, folding her arms across her chest. "Now who are you and what have you done with Damon?" she burst into giggles and he got out of the car, mumbling about being happy again and she followed suit and met him by the door to the bar. "I need" she bounced from foot to foot now that the cold night air had hit her hard.

"I thought so" he chuckled as he held the door open for her. "In you go little miss hoppy"

He followed her into the bar and watched her walk to the bathroom as he made his way up to the bar.

"What can I get you?" the blonde woman asked him with a cheery smile, her eyes lighting up when he turned back to look at her.

"Two classes of your best bourbon, dry, please" he leant on the bar and looked at his own reflection in the mirror. "Do you do food?" he asked the bartender when she came back with his drinks.

"We do bar food" she replied taking the money he gave her and she handed him two menus.

"Thank you" he tucked them under his arm and grabbing the drinks he headed to the table nearest the bathrooms so that Bonnie would spot him as soon as she came out.

"Hey, hot stuff" some loud guy growled playfully.

Damon looked up from his menu when he heard Bonnie yelp and saw some guy grabbing her ass and he flew across the bar and grabbed the guy by the scruff, and slammed him into the pillar he had been leaning against.

"I'm going to slap you with this beer mug until all that is left of it is the handle" Damon snarled into his face snatching the mug from his hand, after pushing Bonnie behind him. "Then I will drop you on your head. Stamp on your face and hand feed you your own"

"Damon" he felt her small hand touch his shoulder softly and he refused to let go of the man. "Let him go"

"I don't want any trouble" the guy who had just grabbed Bonnie's bottom mumbled in fear.

"Now" Bonnie told him forcefully and he couldn't defy her and so reluctantly he backed down.

Damon placed the half empty beer mug down onto the table and growled again. "If I so much as see you glance her way, again, then the beer mug will be the least of your worries" he patted the guy once on the chest before he put his arm around Bonnie's waist and walked her back to their table and sat down.

"A girl can't even use the bathroom around here without getting groped" she laughed a little, trying to break the thick fog of anger that was currently circling Damon's head.

"The next time you have to pee" Damon took a sip from his own glass to distract himself from going back and tearing both the guys arms off and feeding them to him, anally. "I'll take you"

"I don't need a bodyguard" she retorted, picking up her own glass and watching his reaction over the rim as she drank a little before taking the menu he passed her and opened it. "I would have handled him on my own" she eyed him up over the top of the menu, hoping that her not being some defenceless damsel that needed him to rescue her would come across, but he just shook his head and laughed lightly and she bit her bottom lip.

"Well, Bonbon" he raised his eyebrows at her with a little lopsided grin. "That you are stuck with" he grinned at her again, his heart beating way too fast as he looked into her green eyes. "And you can't do your witchy woo on him as he was human and you would have killed him. So best leave the killing to someone who enjoys it" he looked at her, cocking his head to the side. "Besides I have enough blood on my hands for the both of us and I will always be here to fight your honour"

She opened her mouth to speak when a tall guy with shoulder length dark blue hair came over to the table.

"I'm going to have to ask you both to leave the premises"

Damon got to his feet and drained his glass and handed Bonnie hers but she shook her head as she started to put on her coat and so he drank hers too. "We are only leaving because we want too and not because some clown with misguided hair has asked us too" he grabbed his jacket and shrugged it on, looking at the guy who he had wanted to break like a twig over the managers shoulder.

"If you could both make your way outside" the manager waved his arm towards the door.

"We are leaving" Bonnie replied indignantly, taking her purse from Damon.

"I'm sorry for that back there" Damon spoke low when they both walked back out onto the street and she turned and smiled back at him, shaking her head.

"No" she smiled back at him. "Thank you for fighting for my honour"

His mind swelled with something he had never felt before in his whole life and something started to stir deeply inside his chest and he wondered if that was what pride felt like. "Any time" he winked at her as he held out his arm for her and his heart started to beat fast again when she took it. "Let's try not to get thrown out of the next place like a couple of riff raff" she burst into giggles as he led her towards the car.

"Hey" they both heard and turned around just as someone punched Damon in the face, knocking him off balance and he fell to the floor. "You threaten my brother again and the only place she'll be taking you is to the ER"

Bonnie reached down and helped him back onto his feet, instantly standing in Damon's way so that he wouldn't be able to get at the guy.

"I'm sorry" Damon snarled over Bonnie's head at the guy that was now trying to get around her to hit him again. "I think I might have slipped into LaLa land where you think you have the upper hand" he mocked him, trying to gently move Bonnie to the side, but she was having none of it and he didn't want her to get hurt by the guy still trying to sock another punch on his face. "Bonnie, please step aside" he begged her, but she shook her head, infuriating him.

The guy started to chuckle deeply. "Little woman fighting your battles for you, uh, dude"

Before he could open his mouth he watched her hand flew out and hit him square in the jaw and she cried out in pain and that was Damon's que to move her out of the way and the second he did, he felt something hit him on the back of the head and he fell down to his knees just as everything around him went blurry. He heard Bonnie yelling behind him, but it sounded like she was floating towards him on the breeze from a few miles away and slowly he staggered back to his feet and felt another hit to the back of his head and again, he fell to his knees. People yelling for someone to hit him again, but all he heard was Bonnie's voice and he saw red and leaping to his feet he grabbed the baseball bat from the guy who had groped Bonnie inside the bar and threw it across the street, where it hit a car sending of its alarm in an high pitched wail. And grabbing him by the throat he pinned him up against the front of the bar, his face a mere inch from his.

"What did I tell you a few moments ago about looking at her" he felt himself starting to lose control again, and he willed himself not to tear the guy's head off and cause a blood bath that would make Bonnie hate him again. He couldn't have that, not now.

"I'm warning you" a rough voice barked behind him and he shrugged to himself.

"You are warning me" Damon snarled deeply letting the guy drop onto his knees gasping for breath and spun around on his heels and grabbed a hold of the gropers brother and pulled him to him and he spoke fast into the side of his face. "I'm warning you that I will tear you apart, hunt down every single member of your family and feed them little tiny pieces of you" he felt Bonnie trying to tug him away from the small crowd that had started to gather outside of the bar. "Then I will skin every member of your family and make her" he nodded to Bonnie at his side, still trying to drag him away from the fight that was starting to escalate quickly. "A new purse" his voice grew hoarse with anger, he wanted nothing more than to tear the guy's head off and launch it through the crowd like a make shift game of skittles.

"Damon" Bonnie yelled at him as she slapped him on the back. "I'm fine. Can we just leave before this scene gets any larger and you know who comes and finds us" she bit her bottom lip to stop herself from screaming at him.

He pulled the guy to face him. "Take your pervert of a brother and get the hell out of my sight before I kill you both" the guy nodded and Damon smirked at him. "You should thank your lucky stars that I have more respect for her than I have the need to kill dicks like you" he pushed him into his brother that was now slowly getting back to his feet and they both fell into the wall. "Have a great night, won't you" he took Bonnie's hand and walked her to the passenger side of the car and opened the door for her and closed it and ran around to the driver's side and climbed inside.

"I'm sorry, Bon" he reached across and took her hand into his, watching the bruise already starting to appear on one of her knuckles and he raised her hand to his mouth and closing his eyes he gently planted a kiss. "Let's go and find somewhere to stay the night" he started to car and pulled away from the side of the road.

"Thank you" he heard her say and turning her saw her looking down at her hand that rested on her lap and he didn't know if she was thanking him for the kiss or for walking away, but he smiled at her, feeling his heart miss a beat, again.

.

"We got the big suite" Damon turned around, the smile lighting up his heart along with his eyes as they fell onto her standing next to him.

"We went all out, didn't we" she smiled back at him and his heart missed a few beats and he thought that he was going to pass out from the loss of the blood to his heart as it flew to his head and he went completely breathless around her again. And he didn't understand why.

"Let's settle in and order room service" he grinned at her playfully and she nodded at him as she took her bag from him "I'll have a burger" she told before she went to the closest room and went inside.

He walked into the smaller room and put his bag down on the floor and sat down on the bed and picked up the phone and called up room service.

"Hello" he heard a woman from the other end of the phone. "How may I help you?"

Damon heard the shower turning on. "Can we have two burgers will all the trimmings sent up to room four thirteen?"

Getting back to his feet he headed back out into the living area and taking off his jacket he placed it over the back of the couch, walking over to the mini bar and smiled to himself when he saw that they had the full sized bottles. Grabbing a bottle of scotch and two glasses he went back to the couch and sat down, pouring them both out a glass and while he waited for her to return, he drank his and refilled it.

"Room service" he heard someone calling through the door and he went to answer it.

"You have come just in time" he opened the door and the smile fell from his when he felt the blow to his stomach and staggering backwards his hands went to his middle and doubling over her gasped for air, blood pouring through the gaps between his fingers and he looked towards Bonnie's bedroom door, hoping that she didn't hear anything just as more people started filing into the room. "What do you want?" he growled low, praying for time to heal to get rid of them all before they could put Bonnie in danger.

"Just the heart of you and your little friend on a silver platter" the guy who had staked him said lightly with a cocky little grin and Damon started to lose his mind.

"You don't touch her" Damon stood up, snarling like a wounded beast now. "Me, fine. But you lay one hand on her and I will kill your entire bloodline before I tear the whole world apart" he made a move to attack him, but a pain hit his head, crushing his skull and he dropped onto his knees, holding onto his head, trying not to cry out to alert Bonnie to what was going on and he bit his tongue, swallowing the blood to distract himself from the pain in his head and he tried to get back to his feet when he felt his legs breaking and falling back down he swallowed down the scream that hit his lips.

"Touch her" he laughed shrill down at Damon as he tried to get back to his feet again, despite his broken ankles, but he kept falling back down with a pain that blurred his vision. "Sweetness, I'm going to break her so bad that no sounds will escape her pretty little mouth"

Damon lost his mind and leapt to his feet, the pain causing blood tears to flow down his face. "You don't touch her" he was past feral now and ignoring his ankles that refused to heal with the second witch constantly breaking them on him, he made his way slowly and painfully towards the one who had threatened Bonnie's life.

"I don't think you are in any position to make threats" he saw through the blood flowing into his eyes the second witch standing on front of him now and he half growled half snarled at him. "Not when you don't have any air going into your lungs"

Damon's dropped to his knees again, his eyes bulging and his hands flew to his throat and he started clawing at himself, trying to break through to his windpipe to get a breath and falling to his knees he felt something sharp hitting him in the shoulder blade and he staggered on his knees and almost fell forward, but he stood defiant, he needed to protect her and he would do anything to be able to do that.

"You" he managed to get out between trying to breathe again. " Don't" he broke through to his windpipe and felt a rush of air flowing to his lungs. "Touch her" he finished with an animalistic snarl.

"Aren't you the little fighter" he heard a deep cackle from behind him when he felt the stake removed and rammed back into him just above his heart and he felt it scrapping against the top of his heart and everything started to go out of focus.

"You can't die" he heard his inner voice screaming at him as he started to pass out from the blood vessels still bursting in his head. "She'll die too"

He made himself get back to his feet and spun on his heels just as another stake pierced his left lung and he fell onto his back, the stake in his back stabbing through him a little more and the pain took his fighting breath away from him and he closed his eyes, willing himself to fight a little more.

"Get away from him" Bonnie yelled as she came out of her room.

Damon rolled onto his stomach and through the shooting pains in his back from the stake, he smiled up at her despite the pain he was in and saw her face contort with so much anger and that she scared even him and that was the moment when he finally learned that what he felt for her she felt back for him. And that now scared him more than her anger ever could.

"You mess one hair on his head and I blow yours off your shoulders" she took a step closer to Julian's goons and then another, lifting up her hand. "Try it, I dare you"

Damon hadn't seen Bonnie react to his life being in danger like that since Kai had tried to kill him when they were both trapped together in the nineteen ninety four prison world with him. Someone moved out of the corner of his eye.

He watched with wide eyes when Bonnie held out her hands and both witches fell to their knees and he didn't have to look at them to know that she had just blown up their brains, but he heard the two little low thuds as both hit the floor and turning back on to his back he yanked out the stake from his lung and threw it with a force that he didn't even knew he had with the weak condition he was in and rolled out of the way just as the vampire fell face down.

"I said you don't touch him" he heard Bonnie yelling out as he ducked a blow from another vampire running towards him and looking down at the guy on his knees he shoved his fist into his chest and tore out his heart and with a little cough he threw it onto the floor.

"I think we need to leave the country today" he smiled at her as she helped him back up onto his feet and he surveyed the bodies while she pulled the stake from his back and he wrapped his arms around her and holding her close he leant his face on her head and breathed in the sweet scent of her, swallowing deeply he closed his eyes. "I know a place that we can go" he told her and felt her nodding under him and he smiled to himself. "There is a summer place in Florence that I used to go to back in eighties whenever I had my humanity back on. There is a couple living there for me, but they won't bother us"

"I have always wanted to go to Italy" Bonnie whispered into his chest and he felt his whole body swelling with something that confused him again, but it was a feeling that he enjoyed and one that he never wanted to leave him.

Damon opened his eyes and looked down at the bodies lying all over the suite. "We need to find a little distraction from the rest of the minions trying to find us" he told her as he sat down on the arm of the couch. "But what" he tried to rack his brain, but nothing was coming to him, and he knew the reason for that, the feelings that were still flowing through his soul was changing him, somehow and he didn't mind changing for the first time in his life, for her. "Do you have any ideas" he asked her, looking up at her standing in front of him and slowly a light appeared behind her bright green eyes and he grinned at her.

"We need to make it look like, two of those bodies are ours" she looked at him as he rose to his feet and before she could speak another word she watched him start yanking out a few of his teeth. "What are you doing" she asked him, starring into his toothless mouth and shuddered visibly.

"Making it look like I died here" he chuckled as he bent down and grabbed a hold of the smaller, darker guy's head and hit him square in the mouth and she saw a few of his teeth fall into Damon's left hand before he sprinkled his own teeth on the guys chest and stomach, letting his head flop back onto the floor with a soft thud.

"There is no way that you are taking out any of my teeth" she folded her arms across her chest and shook her head.

"No, silly" he got back to his feet and walked over to the only female in the room and crouching down he sank his teeth into her neck and Bonnie watched him in alarm as he started to drink deeply.

"What the hell are you doing?" she asked him and closed her mouth when he held up his hand and then he was standing just in front of her, his hands on her shoulders, peering softly into her eyes.

"Just a little blood" he told her, holding out a small dagger for her and taking it she moved away from him.

"That I can do" she smiled up at his pale face as she took the blade out of his shaking hand and that confused her. "When does he shake like that" she thought to herself as she was now stood next to the body of the female witch lying on the floor next to the vampire that now had more of Damon's teeth than he did at that moment.

"Just a little" she heard him behind her and she nodded with her back to him.

She opened the palm of her hand and went to draw the blade across it and quickly changed her mind and drew it along the length of her forearm and crouching down next to the girl she watched numbly as her blood spurted out, half drenching the girl and slowly she got back to her feet and wobbled a little, then strong arms were around her and lifting her off her feet.

"I said a little, not drain yourself over the dead girl" Damon chuckled as he smiled down into her deathly white face and his heart started to hammer way too fast in his chest and laying her down on the couch he dropped to his knees, biting into his wrist and held it to her mouth. "That's my girl" he smiled and closed his eyes when she took a hold of his arm in both her hands and started to suckle from his wrist.

He was used to feeding others his blood over his long life. But no one else had brought to him a feeling of jubilation quite like he received whenever he had feed Bonnie and he shivered a little and he felt her alarm when she pulled her mouth from his arm.

"No" he shook his head. "You need a little more"

"What now?" she asked him when he got back to his feet and picked up his jacket and took out his phone and crushed it in his hand and she watched him dropping it onto the floor before he threw his jacket across the room where it hit a lamp over and she jumped a little when she heard it shatter.

"We set the place on fire and go out the window" he grabbed a lighter from a pocket of one of Julian's minions. "Grab a bottle and start pouring it everywhere" he told her as he started to pour out a bottle of brandy over the guy that had his teeth and he smiled to himself when he felt his own starting to grow back and lifting the bottle to his lips he gulped it back before he started to pour the rest of the contents out over the other bodies and when the bottle was empty he threw it behind him and turned to look at her across the room, pouring out a bottle over the witch that was going to be her for the police and he felt his heart skip its beat again and he grinned at her when she caught him looking at him. "Ready?" he asked her and she nodded at him, throwing the bottle behind her and he loved the little jump she gave when the bottle smashed against the back of the bathroom door and he went to her and took her hand in his.

Damon led her to the double doors and opened them and they both walked out onto the balcony together. He heard her heart beating faster now and he hoped that it just wasn't from what they were about to do. He grabbed her and spun her round to face him and kissed her impulsively on the forehead before he knew what he was doing.

"Wait here" he shivered to her breathlessly before turning and running back into the room and a few seconds later he came back, closing the French doors behind him. "Let's go start a new life" he winked at her, scooping her up in his arms and before she could utter a single word he leapt from the balcony and landed without a sound on the balls of his feet and he placed her on her own and held her steady for a few seconds while she got her breath back again.

"Airport" she half smiled at him and he loved how resilient and feisty she was to whatever life threw at her and he knew that she was his equal in all things and he had never felt that way about anyone before in his whole entire life, not even with Stefan. "He hailed a cab and opened the door for her and he climbed in behind her.

Damon took his seat while he waited for Bonnie to return from the bathroom. He stared out of the window into the bright morning sky. He had never felt so mentally exhausted in his life. Closing his eyes he rubbed at his eyelids. Trying to relieve the pressure that was starting to build. He couldn't remember the last time he had actually fed since they had gone on the run. Was it really two days? He really couldn't remember and each time he tried, a fog flowed over his mind and forced him to stop.

"Thank you" he forced himself to smile at the steward passing out hot towels and sitting back in his seat he laid it over his face, closing his eyes again, wishing that Bonnie would hurry up and sit next to him so that he knew she was safe.

He hated the not knowing part. He hated that he couldn't watch her every move. And he knew that she wouldn't put up with it either and he hated that more than anything. He heard a faint giggling and pulled the towel from his face and looked up at her and grinned, moving his legs to allow her to pass him for the window seat.

"You look like a stressed out old woman" she teased him and he chuckled a little.

"I feel it" he confided in her in a low voice as he twisted in his seat and started to help her with the belt and she batted his hand away.

"I think I can buckle myself in without any dire problems"

Damon nodded his head, wanting nothing more than to close his eyes and sleep the fog that still beleaguered his mind, away.

"Damon" she whispered, crouching down a little in her seat and his heart started to flutter with her mouth so close to his ear, he could feel her warm breath on his neck and it excited him. "When was the last time you, fed?" and he shrugged. "You need to feed or you are going to be too weak" he nodded his head, closing his eyes and placing the cooling towel back onto his face. "Once we are in the air, you and I are going to get a blanket and I am feeding you" he shook his head in protest, but she wasn't about to have any of it. "I am not asking you, Damon" she told him as the plane started down the runway. "You are getting fed even if I have to force feed you"

Twenty minutes later when the seatbelt sign had turned off, she got to her feet and slipped past him and on tip toes she reached up into the overhead compartment and grabbed a hold of a blanket and took it back to her seat and spreading it out over the both of them she tapped his shoulder, but he was fast asleep and so she let him sleep it off.

"Good morning" he heard the bright voice and opening his eyes he found the seat next to him empty and he leapt to his feet, his heart ponding hard in his ears and he had trouble hearing the air stewardess as she read the breakfast menu to him.

"My companion" he turned and looked down the aisle and couldn't see her anywhere. "Where is she?"

"The bathroom" the steward gave him a funny look and he slid back down in his seat feeling his heart slowing down its quickened pace and he started to relax a little.

"Two coffees and, um" he looked at the menu, frowning over what Bonnie would like for breakfast and he wished he knew.

"Why don't you give your companion this selection" she smiled at his half asleep face and he nodded at her, smoothing down his hair before taking the tray from her.

"Thank you" he tore open a sugar packet and emptied its contents into his mug and then one in hers before he sipped at his own without stirring it, his eyes not leaving the bathroom area once.

"Oh good" he turned and looked up at a bright eyed, fresh looking Bonnie. "I am starving"

"I didn't know what you wanted" he told her truthfully when she slipped back into her seat and sipped her coffee.

"I could eat anything right now" she replied picking up the plastic fork and stabbing the pitiful looking sausage and taking a big bite. "You did well" she reassured him between chewing.

Damon smiled at her and finished his coffee. "We are landing in a little under an hour"

Bonnie's folk stopped short of her mouth and she looked at the side of his face and he seemed to be in even more of a state than she was and she barely slept in her uncomfortable seat. "Damon you look way too pale"

He turned and looked at her, shock evident on his face. "I always look pale" he laughed deeply, placing the empty mug back down on the tray table. "The perks of being" he looked around and saw that no one was taking any notice of them. "Vampire"

"Not that pale" she retorted and he shrugged and she knew she wasn't going to get anywhere with him and so she finished her breakfast in silence.

He was just dropping back off to sleep when he felt a gentle hand on his arm. "You ok?" his eyes flew open and he looked at her startled.

"You and I are going to go down into the bathroom and I'm" she got to her feet and tugged him to his. "Feed you" she pushed him out into the aisle and he groaned a little, but knew that he had no other choice but to but to obey and he with each step he took, he found himself growing weaker.

Pulling open the small cubicle door he slipped inside with her just behind him and he watched her close and lock the door.

"How are we doing this?" she asked him, moving a little closer to him in the cramped space.

"I'll sit and you sit on my lap" he sat down on the closed toilet seat and patted his lap with a little smile. "I don't bite" he winked at her and she folded her arms across her chest and gave him a look before she started to giggle, covering her mouth for fear that they both would get caught in there together and she could just imagine what they would all think they were doing and feeling like a naughty teenager she sat down on his lap, putting her arm around his neck for support and it blew his mind and he prayed to whoever was listening that it wouldn't show on his face.

Bonnie moved her hair aside for him and he shook his head and picked up her arm and slowly rolled up the sleeve a little, exposing her wrist, his fingertips brushing the skin on her inner wrist and he loved the tingling feelings their skin to skin contact brought to him and he gasped and quickly turned it into a cough and her eyes flew wider in alarm.

"Dry throat" he lied to her and hated himself for it. "Are you sure about this?" she nodded. "Because I can wait until we land" she shook her head, smiling at him.

He lowered his mouth to her wrist and parted his lips. He loved the feeling of his mouth touching her smooth soft skin. He shook himself to try and keep focus of what he was doing and as gently as he could, he bit down into her wrist and instantly pulled back when he heard her moan.

"I'm so sorry" he said flustered. "I tried not to hurt you" he could feel the pricking of tears behind his eyes before they ebbed away again when she smiled at him, her green eyes shining with her own unique inner light, lighting him up from the inside.

"You didn't hurt me" she promised him and lowering his mouth back to her arm, he started to drink.

He took her blood into his mouth and it sent of rockets exploding inside his head. He couldn't think with words anymore. He saw pictures of beaches, candy apples, fireworks and smiling children dancing behind his closed eyelids. The potency of her blood almost knocked him for six. Each taste bud had its own little current of electricity racing along his tongue before coming together and bursting with so many different flavours that he wanted more and more. But he knew that he couldn't lose control with her. He would never be able to forgive himself if he had hurt her or worse, killed her. He would never be able to stand up again. His world would fall into complete darkness and he would surrender himself to the first sun rise without his daylight ring. If he had to live without her.

"You look so much better" she grinned at him when he pulled his head back from her wrist. "You look like yourself again"

"I feel like me again" he beamed back at her and his whole being shook when she wiped at her blood on his mouth before getting to her feet and suddenly the plane lurched and she ended back on his lap with both his arms around her, looking into each other's faces.

He couldn't help himself, he moved his face a little closer to hers and when she didn't back up he leant in a little more, his mouth a mere inch from hers and she closed her eyes and he knew this was it. The big moment when he was finally going to kiss her and he closed his eyes and parted his lips a little, making a move to fill the gap between them.

"Please return to your seats" there was a bang on the door and Bonnie leapt in the air in fright and fell backwards onto the floor and he tugged her back onto her feet and followed her out of the bathroom back to their seats and he could have happily thrown that steward from the plane for ruining what could have been the start of something great.

"Do you even know if she wants to kiss you?" his inner voice piped up again and he sat sullen in his seat while he waited for the plane to land and desperately wanted her to feel the same way about him as he felt for her. He knew that she cared for him, even to go as far as to love him. But did she love him like he loved her. A love that he had only recently allowed himself to know. So how was he ever going to let her know it, too? He just prayed that whatever her feelings for him were, he wasn't about to ruin the best friendship he has ever had in his long life.

They stood outside the airport trying to get a cab and he was starting to lose his cool again every time someone bumped into them or stepped on Bonnie's foot and each time he had to look into her eyes to calm him down enough to stop him from tearing someone's head off. It was warm and they both badly needed to change out of their clothes.

"There" he pointed through the thick crowd of people and grabbing a hold of her hand he led her through the crowd and onto the side of the road, passing people out of their way in his haste to get her out of there. "You do not want this cab" he told the man that was just about to climb into the back. "You want us to have it, don't you?" the man nodded and Damon smiled, patting him on the shoulder. "Why, thank you" he watched the man step aside and he turned and smiled at Bonnie's scowling face. "I said I would get us a cab and I did, judgey" he motioned for her to go in and he jumped in behind her. "You are going to love this country as much as I" he stopped talking when he almost said her. "As much as I do" he said, amending his thoughts.

"I think I just might, cab thief" she elbowed him playfully in the ribs and settled down next to him for the long ride out to the house and leaning her head on his shoulder she watched the airport slowly drifting away to be replaced by countryside.

He sat there trying not to move too much to disturb her head on his shoulder. He longed to reach out and put his arm around her, to hold her even more closely to him. But fear of rejection stopped him from doing the only thing he wanted to do at that moment. Take her in his arms and kiss her until she stole his very breath away.

"Everything is so beautiful here" she said in wonder at his side and he turned and looked over the top of her head at the scenery as it flashed past them.

"Not as beautiful as you" he badly wanted to say, but again his fear of her rejecting him froze the words inside his mouth and so he simply said. "It is"

Bonnie shifted a little next to him and looked up into his face. "So" she smiled at him. "Who are these people that you compelled to take care of the house for you"

Damon smiled back down at her and shook his head. "I didn't compel anyone" he laughed lightly, feeling amused that she would assume that he had to compel every one that he met.

"How come" she asked him, intrigued now and he felt it. "Did you pay them?"

He shook his head again, the bright smile still shining from his gaze as he looked down at her. "You may find this hard to believe, but there are some people in this world that actually like me for, me" She pulled a face at him and she started to laugh. "Hey, Miss Bennett" he slipped his arm around her shoulder and squeezed her a little tightly. "Is it so hard to believe that people like me?"

She shook her head, still giggling and he couldn't help but chuckle too, her laugh was too infectious. "You like me" he teased her with a little wink. "Don't you?" he frowned down at her, his heart beating too fast again and he feared that he would pass out with the anxiety of not knowing.

Bonnie nodded and gave him a serious look and his heart stopped beating with his excitement. "Of course I do, now" she playfully elbowed him in the ribs again and he hugged her to him a little more, resting his face on the top of her head. "In the beginning I hated you. But now" she shifted slightly; looking up at the side of his face with a beaming smile that he knew only he brought out in her. "I kind of love you" she wrinkled her nose, her eyes shining brightly up at him and his heart started to swell that little bit more.

"Me too" he squeezed her again just as the car took a left turn and he almost fell over and crushed her. "You ok?" he asked her, concern radiating out of every pore and she started to laugh.

"Threw yourself at me like a common bar whore why don't you" she laughed and he laughed along with her, slipping his arm back around her shoulders and she laid her head back on his chest.

"Back to the question" he said softly, closing his eyes. "You are going to love Alba and Carnina" she nodded underneath him and he started to relax that little bit more, being so close to her always calmed him and he loved it.

They stood at the front door and he looked down at her standing at his side, her eyes were wide and a look of awe flashed across them.

"You bought this house?" she asked him turning to look at him standing next to her and he shook his head with a little smile. "You stole this house" she gasped in shook, not sure how to go about that one. "How can you steal a house this size? It is bigger than your house back home"

Damon slipped his arm around her shoulders, looking up at the house again. "I have a confession to make" he told her and she pulled herself out of his hold and looked up at him, confusion written all over her face.

"This house does or did, belong to Alberto and Giuseppina, my paternal grandparents. When they died, they left it to my father, their oldest son. And when" he went and sat down on the low wall and she joined him, both looking back down at the vast front garden. "Stefan killed our father, we both inherited the house. But because we became vampires, and were thought to have died in the vampire raid back in eighteen sixty four when our own father shot us for trying to protect Katherine. The house became public property. But in the early twenties, I came here and got it back. And by compulsion. So I guess you can say that I did steal it" he turned and looked at her, his eyes bright. "But only to get back what was rightfully mine"

She nodded at him. "But why didn't Stefan ever tell Elena" she stopped talking, not wanting to ruin the moment by bringing up his dead girlfriend's name, but he simply shrugged it off, pretending not to be effected by the mere mention of her name, but she knew that it brought to him a great deal of pain and so she placed her hand on his knee.

"I have another confession" he looked away from her, not wanting to see the look she was about to give him. "I haven't told Stefan that the estate was back in our names"

"Good" she said and he spun on the wall and looked at her in surprise. "Because here you and I can remain to be safe. After all if no one even knows about this place, then no one can drag it out of Stefan or anyone else"

He always liked her way of thinking, and loved it whenever she surprised him with a different reaction to what he had thought she would have. "Want to go and see something from my childhood?" she nodded and leaping to his feet he held out his hand for her and his heart swelled even more when she took it. "I think you are going to love this" he grinned at her, pulling her up gently to her feet and holding her hand he led her around to the back of the house, to an even bigger garden and her eyes opened wide again.

"My grandmothers rose garden" he whispered to her. "One place she always took me as a child and one place that I have Alba to tend with care"

"They're beautiful" she whispered, the sight of the flowers in full bloom taking her breath away and taking her hand he led her through the flowers and onto a small path that led deeper into the garden.

"This is it" he shielded his eyes from the bright sun as he gazed up at the treehouse. "This was a gift from my grandmother for my sixth birthday"

"Wow" was all she could bring herself to say, watching him make his way up the flight of stairs that led onto a small veranda.

"Come on" he looked back down at her standing there, still watching him. "I want to show you inside"

She climbed the winding steps and met him on the veranda and opening the door he ducked inside and she followed after him. "This is a tree house?"

He nodded as she took in the big room with its wood carvings of woodland creatures and the tiny wooden furniture. "It is something else, isn't it?"

"It's amazing" she sat down on a window seat, hardly believing her own eyes anymore.

"Whenever we came to visit, Stefan and I used to spend all of our time in here" he told her, swallowing down a lump of nostalgia as it hit the back of his throat, hard. "And when I became a teenager, I still used to come here to hide out from the world and to think about life" he sat down on the window seat opposite her, looking at the wood carvings on the ceiling. "When I became a vampire, the first decade was a painful one. What with the whole craving for blood and missing Katherine. The pain overwhelmed me and that was when I came back here and got the house back. I used to sit in here for hours on end, the blood lust driving me half crazy. And it was here, in this very treehouse, where I learnt to manage my lust for it. This treehouse has been both my saviour and my rock over the years" he looked across at her, the stretch of time flowing back like invisible hands to touch his very soul again. "My father used to drink too much and then he would get handsy with us. I used to bring Stefan here to hide him from father's wrath"

"Damon" Bonnie whispered to him, love dripping from that one single word and flowing into him and he had never felt that kind of love since he was a little boy sitting on his mother's lap while she read to him his favourite book.

"It is ok" he reassured her. "I got over my father a very long time ago"

"Damon is that you" they both looked towards the door when they heard a soft female voice calling out to him.

"Carnina" he got to his feet and went outside and Bonnie followed behind him and standing next to him she gazed down at the soft face of the old woman standing at the base of the tree and he flew down the winding steps and into her arms. "Still has beautiful as ever" he hugged her close, planting a kiss on her forehead. "I want you to meet someone" he turned her around and beckoned Bonnie from the tree. "This is Bonnie"

"Hello" Bonnie smiled, holding her hand out of the old woman to shake, but she ignored it and pulled her in for a hug.

"Hello, Bonnie" Carnina hugged her tightly, squashing the air out of her lungs. "You must be very special to out Damon here, he has never brought a girl home to us before"

"Never" Bonnie asked her, looking up at Damon, who shook his head.

"Never" Carnina replied, taking Bonnie's hand and leading her back towards the house. "You both must be hungry from the flight. Let's go inside and have breakfast" she smiled back at Damon following behind her. "Alba can't wait to see you again"

"How is he?" Damon asked with an emotion that Bonnie had never heard him display before.

"He is doing a lot better now" she responded, leading them both down a new path. "A whole new lease of life with the new hips"

"So no stopping the old fool" Damon chuckled from Bonnie's side as he stepped into pace with them both.

"You'll see" she laughed back, opening the back door and leading them both inside.

Breakfast was amazing and she couldn't seem to eat enough and it seemed to please Damon. Who was now sat next to her on the long bench.

"I have missed your breakfasts" Damon smiled across the table at Carnina, picking up a strawberry and kiwi sushi ball and dipping it in the natural yoghurt before popping it into his mouth.

"I have never had fruit sushi for breakfast before" Bonnie told them all, wondering why she never had.

"Then here you are going to be so indulged that going home we are going to need a forklift truck to carry us both" Damon winked at her. "Try these" he picked up a few different fruit sushi and put them on her plate before adding two small bowls of natural yoghurt and raspberry sauce. "Try the three together" he licked his fingers and smiled back at her. "So what have you guys got planned for today?" he asked Alba and Carnina.

"Just pottering in the garden now that the weather is starting to turn for the better" Alba replied. "What about you guys?" he looked from Damon to Bonnie.

"I thought we could go into the city" he put his coffee mug back down on the table and turned to face Bonnie. "We had to leave our things back at the hotel in DC"

"Oh I love shopping" Carnina cried out in joy. "Why don't you boys stay here and potter while I take Bonnie into the city and get what you both need. It will be an excuse for me to show her around and get a new dress that I have had my eye on for a while now. Plus" she looked across at Bonnie with a fond smile. "It will give us girls a chance to get to know each other without you both under our feet"

Damon looked at Bonnie in question and she nodded. "I would like that" she said before she fell into heaven with Damon's flavour combination.

"That settles it then" Carnina said as she got to her feet. "You boys wash up. We are going shopping"

Bonnie rose to her feet and froze, she had no money since being forced by Julian's goons to leave her things at the hotel and she opened her mouth to speak, but Damon took her hand in his and thrust something into it and wrapped her fingers around it and leaning down he whispered into her ear. "Get whatever we need and don't worry about the cost" he kissed her on the cheek and looking down at her hand she saw a black card in her hand and gasped out loud, looking back up at him. "I am going to need a new jacket, jeans and some tops" he climbed over the bench and started to clear up the dishes. "Go spend. Have fun" he told her and slipping the card into the back pocket of her jeans she followed Carnina out to the garage.

She sat in the car and looked out of the window, feeling the card burning a hole in her back pocket and she started to worry her lip. She didn't feel right taking his money. But she had nothing and so that left her with no other choice than to accept it. But she vowed to herself that she would pay him back every single penny. No matter how long it would take her to do so.

The car ride was a nice one. She had learnt so much about Carnina and Alba. She found out that Alba was a witch that had traded his magic back in the early fifties when he was just twenty four years old to save the life of Carnina when a power hungry witch had put it in danger. Bonnie thought that it was the most romantic thing she had ever heard.

The first shop they hit was cool. Not just in interior but with all the air conditioning they had. They were both treated like royalty and every whim was being catered too. Bonnie had never had that experience before and she didn't know if she liked it or not. But looking at the price tags she knew why. The whole place screamed designer at her and she glanced across at Carnina taking things from rails and handing them to her like she shopped there all the time. Maybe she does she thought to herself. Even the sale girls knew her by first name.

"Oh no, you don't" Carnina told her when she went to sit down on the couch. "You have these to try on" she led her through a curtained area and gently pushed her towards one of the changing rooms and Bonnie opened the door and stepped into a room that was almost the same size of her bathroom back home and dumped the clothes on the chair.

"So how long have you and Damon been together?" Carnina called through the door to her as she undressed.

"We are just friends" Bonnie shouted back out to her, slipping a cream and gold top on over her head. "He is with someone else"

"Doesn't look that way to me" Carnina called back to her in reply and Bonnie stopped and stared at the back of the closed door.

"He is with my friend, Elena" she picked up the pants and held them up.

"He is in love with you Bella" Carnina replied and Bonnie shook her head, her heart skipping a tiny beat.

"No" Bonnie told her tugging on a pair of black silk Capri pants. "He is in love with Elena, not me" she opened the door and stepped out of the cubicle and surveyed herself in the long mirror.

"I will tell you this" Carnina came behind her and smiled at her reflection. "He has always thought he was in love with her. But I have known Damon since I was eighteen years old and I'm eighty three next week and I have never known him to speak about anyone the way he does with you. Not even Elena"

Bonnie spun on her feet and looked into chocolate eyes.

"With Elena, he was always trying to change. Always trying to become a different man to fit into what she thought he should be. And from my experience of love, that isn't anything close to love. And judging from the photo that he sent us, she pulled him in because he unknowingly wanted to cling onto Katherine" she pushed Bonnie back into the changing room and handed her an emerald wrap dress. "He is very protective of his emotions. He has been hurt and lived through more pain than any single person that I have ever met and so he unconsciously hides from his true feelings. Clouding them with another, safer approach. So you see" Bonnie heard her through the door as she yanked the dress over her head. "It is you that he is in love with. Elena was just an escape for him. Sort of an infatuation"

"Really" Bonnie replied opening the door and stepping in front of the mirror again.

"I would stake everything I have on it" Carnina put both her hands on her shoulders and smiled at her in the mirror. "Your soul is an exact match for Damon's and nothing and no one will ever amount to his feelings for you"

"But we both hated each other in the beginning" Bonnie said as she turned to look at her over her shoulder.

"I don't think it was hatred you both felt" she watched Carnina sit down on the couch, sipping from her coffee cup. "I think it was fear that both made you feel that way. Fear of what you both could be become if you only let it"

Bonnie sat down next to her in the dress, the long side split exposing one of her legs when she crossed them. "I used to fear vampires, that much is true. But"

Carnina shook her head, placing the cup back down onto the side table and turning back to her, she took both her hands in her own. "I sense you have been hurt in the past" Bonnie shook her head, trying to think of any boy leaving her before she met Damon. "It wasn't a former boyfriend, Bella. It goes much deeper than that. A greater love that left you"

"My mother" Bonnie gasped when she realised what Carnina was really saying to her. "She abandoned me when I was only a child"

"And that great fear of being abandoned by her has unconsciously made you fear it happening again and so you pushed him away" Bonnie nodded, her eyes wide. "And his fear of death made him push you away too and go to what he knew to be safe, Elena. And that is why he wrongly assumed love there and why he drove himself like a madman to get back a little of what safety net he felt whenever he was with Katherine and so"

"It was never Elena" Bonnie interjected and Carnina nodded. "But how"

"He already knows my dear" she told Bonnie whose face fell into shock again. "I can see it in the way he looks at you. Written in each smile he gives you. Damon is smitten and I think he fears your rejection too much to make a move to show you how he feels. Due to his past rejection from the greatest love of his life"

"His mother" Bonnie whispered, staring at the framed fashion posters on the wall.

"Exactly"

"But what now?" She asked her, turning back to face her.

"You show him how you feel" Carnina got to her feet and pulled Bonnie up on hers. "Change back into your clothes. We need to get Damon some things. Then Alba and I are taking a much needed vacation. We always do when Damon arrives and you both need your space to find each other"

Nodding she made her way back into the cubicle with her head spinning from the realisation that she was in love with him. Closing her eyes she smiled to herself as she pulled the dress back over her head. Excitements fluttering in her stomach, making her feel nauseous. She was going to show Damon how she felt even if it killed her. She just didn't know how yet. But she wasn't going to let a little thing called fear she had always clung into, to stop her.

Alba got up from the flower bed with Damon's help and they both headed back into the house to wash up.

"How long have you and Bonnie been together?" Alba asked him handing Damon a hand towel to dry his hands and he leant back against the sink.

"We are just friends" he told him with a sorrow to his tone. "And I don't know if we will ever be anything more. I can't tell with her" he admitted to his old friend, shaking his head. "It seems that for the first time in my life, I cannot tell if she feels anything for me other than friendship"

"And it pains you?" he asked him and Damon nodded, handing back the towel for Alba to use.

"Yes" he hated being so weak, but he couldn't help it and it was no use lying to someone who knew him better then he even knew himself.

"So, Damon" Alba said as he handed Damon a glass of scotch and he looked up from stroking their cat Remy. "You really do love this girl, don't you?" He sat down and Damon nodded.

"And it frightens the hell out of me" he finally allowed himself to admit it out loud and a feeling of relief washed over him.

"I have never seen you look this way about any other woman since I have known you" Alba admitted with a little smile, hating seeing him in so much emotional turmoil.

"But it was never love at first sight" Damon told him, still looking down at the cat he continued to stroke on his lap, the cats purring seeming to calm his fast heart a little. "In fact she annoyed the hell out of me"

"Damon there is no such thing as love at first sight. There is only love when you take a second look"

Damon's head snapped up and he stared at his old friend. "What do you mean?"

"Love at first sight is what sells movies and books. It doesn't really exist. The thing that makes you fall is lust. Just purely sexual. A physical thing. Love comes from a much deeper place than that. Lust is all well and good. Because let's face it. You have to have a physical attraction in order for the love to bloom deeper. But love based on friendship first is the greatest kind of love that there is"

Damon didn't really know how to respond to that, but he had to say something. "But you and Carnina have been in love since you were both teens"

Alba shook his head and gave a little throaty chuckle. "I have to confess something" he sat up in his chair and leant a little closer towards Damon. "When I first met Carnina I couldn't stand the sound of her voice. All sugary soft and languid, it made me want to tear off my own ears and stuff them into her mouth just so I wouldn't have to endure it anymore. But, once I took that second look, I was smitten. Just like I can see you are with Bonnie" he refilled Damon's glass and placed the bottle back on the table. "And did you take a second look?"

"I did" Damon was slowly realising what he had known all along, he was in love with Bonnie and had been for years in fact. "The first few months I did. But why didn't I realise that?"

"Because you wanted to protect yourself my friend" Alba grinned at Damon's shocked face and chuckled a little.

"You might be right" he frowned down at their cat now sleeping on his lap. "I have been such a fool"

"There is nothing wrong with being a fool, Damon" he told him in a matter of fact way. "Just as long as you stop being a fool and become the man you are" he looked across at Damon and met his eyes. "Carnina and I are going down to the coast for a few days, we are leaving in a few hours" he told him. "You both need to sort this out before you accidentally lose each other for good"

Damon's heart started to beat too fast again. He couldn't find any words to speak and so he nodded and sipped from his glass as the cat leapt from his lap and ran out of the room.

"Ah" Alba said getting to his feet and draining his glass. "The girls are home"

Damon rose to his feet, his nerves starting to get the better of him and he was nervous at seeing Bonnie again and swallowing down a little lump he stood there and waited for the living room door to open.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

"Wow" he thought to himself as he watched her walking down the stairs. He grabbed onto the baluster when the sight of her almost knocked him off his feet. He swallowed hard and took a deep breath, trying to straighten his thoughts. Her eyes shining brightly, brought out by the colour of her dress sent a shiver all over his body and he almost swayed on his feet.

Bonnie stood at the bottom of the stairs and gave him a little smile. The dress that Carnina had picked out for her felt great against her skin and she had never felt so sensual in her whole life before. Not even when Caroline had given her one of her many make overs. Carnina might have been in her eighties, but that woman sure did know what suited Bonnie. The dress brought out her eyes and hugged every single inch of her curves.

"So how do I look?" she asked him, watching his eyes go back to normal and she felt incredible when he gave her that lop sided smile that she loved so much.

"You look amazing" he said breathlessly. "You really do" he couldn't bring himself to take his eyes off her and at that moment he wished that he hadn't booked them a table at his favourite restaurant so that they could stay right there. But he had promised her and so he was taking her out for the evening. "Are you ready?" he winked at her holding out his arm for her and his insides shook with delight when he took his arm for him to lead her out to the cab waiting for them outside.

"So where are we going?" she asked him, but he shook his head and smiled at her teasingly.

"You will find out soon enough" he held open the door for her and he watched her draped in emerald silk slip into the back and he found himself still standing there staring in after her.

"Are you going to get in" the cab driver asked him and shaking his head he climbed into the back of the cab and sat down next to Bonnie.

For the second time in many days he had no idea what to say to her. He couldn't speak. He was completely speechless and he had trouble breathing again. His nerves wound him as tight as a spring. He felt all hot under the collar and he had no idea how to behave anymore. He had never felt that way his whole entire life and at that moment he thought he was going mad. Maybe he had already gone mad and he was trapped in some mental asylum dreaming up his whole life and he was just drugged up on some strong meds. But turning to look at her just as the cab pulled to a stop, he knew it was all real and nothing felt more real than the way she made him feel whenever she caught him looking at her and the smile she gave him back.

She started to laugh when Damon accidentally poured wine over the table cloth and he looked at her and she could have sworn that his face pinked a little. That confused her. When did he become embarrassed. But more importantly, when did Damon spill anything. Especially anything that had any alcohol in it, but she shook the absurd thoughts away. Maybe she just didn't notice him as much before as she did now with every single movement that he made.

"Dick" he scorned himself under his breath after he filled her glass with the red wine and she slowly took a sip.

He had never been such a bumbling idiot around anyone before. But for some reason since having his talk with Alba, he went from confident charmer to a complete moron in the time it took a normal person to blink. He didn't even feel rational anymore. He felt like that any second now he was going to fall off his chair and keep falling forever.

And the more she looked across the table at him and smiling at him like that, the more he felt his confidence ebb away to leave behind some pathetic fool that couldn't even hold a knife and fork.

"Pull yourself together" he thought to himself. "It is Bonnie. Your best friend. The woman that you are in love with. You know her. You can be yourself around her. Stop being a dick"

"Are you ok?" she asked him putting down her wine glass and eyeing him. "You look a little freaked out right now"

"I'm fine" he told her as he knocked over the salt cellar reaching for his wine glass. "Shit" he cried out in alarm as the liquid ran across the table and almost flowed onto her dress. "I'm sorry" he gasped as he leapt to his feet and started to wipe up the spill with his napkin and she started to giggle and sitting back down slowly he started to laugh along with her.

"Damon, relax" she reached across the table and patted the back of his hand with her own and her breath caught in her throat when his skin touched her own and she looked at him and he stared right back at her.

"I just want tonight to be perfect" he told her honestly. "This is the first time that you and I have ever had dinner out in such a nice place"

"No matter what" she reassured him, the smile never leaving her gaze. "We are going to have a great time. So no stressing yourself out, ok?"

"Ok" he grinned at her, taking a few deep breaths. "Do you wonder what is going on back home?" he asked her before he had thought about it and once the words were out of his mouth he wished that he could suck them all right back in.

She nodded, placing both of her hands on the table and clasping them together. "But I know that everything is going to be fine. It isn't Stefan they want. They think it was you that killed Julian. After the fight" she picked up her glass and watched the colour drain from his face.

"How do you know about that?" he asked her, worried what she would think of him.

"You should know by now that there isn't a lot that I don't know" she smirked at him and his heart stood still in his chest. "Stefan was worried about you"

"Then why didn't he bother to come and find me after he broke my face?" Damon asked her, again wishing that he hadn't spoken. "Not that I don't prefer you being sat there and not him" he laughed lightly before taking a sip from his glass and he hoped that she wouldn't see how much his nerves were on edge around her now.

"He couldn't" she told him, her hand reaching across the table to hold onto his. "Caroline was taken to the hospital. The babies are syphons and he had to be with her and so you are stuck with me" she gave a little smile and squeezed his hand. "Not that I am not a lot more fun to be with then Stefan" she winked at him as the waiter brought their food over.

"So I won the sitter lottery then" he raised his eyebrows, cutting into his steak.

"You did" she teased him and he dropped his folk and bending down to retrieve it he banged his head on the table and cursed under his breath. "Runaway folk" he laughed back in his seat. "Think it took a dislike to the cow"

Bonnie couldn't help but laugh at him again. "What has gotten into you tonight?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "Guess the sun has fried my brain a little" he told her, wishing the ground would open up and swallow him whole.

The rest of the meal went without a hitch and he thanked his lucky stars that he hadn't made more of an idiot out of himself than he already had. When the music started playing he longed to ask her to dance. But for the life of him he couldn't think of a way to ask her without sounding dumb and so he sat there and drank his whisky in silence whilst watching the other dancers flow like water around the floor.

"Dance?" she asked him and he spun on his seat and nodded at her, thanking her silently for that one simple word that meant the wold to him.

"I would love to dance" he got to his feet smoothly and held out his hand for her and she stole his last breath away when she lightly placed her hand into his and got to her feet as they made their way onto the dance floor.

He knew he wasn't about to mess up with this. He had had too many lessons growing up and he had always thought himself to be an excellent dancer and he couldn't wait to show off his moves to her. But the music was too loud with too much of a beat. But there was no way that he could get up to the DJ box to get him to change the rhythm of the music and so he made himself adapt to the new sounds that he still hadn't developed a taste for.

Grabbing a hold of her hands he started to move along to the music, watching her body move within the silk made him think thoughts that he knew he shouldn't before kissing her. And there it was, the thought of her lips touching his made his brain crash out on him again.

Glancing around at a few other dancers he saw a few of the men watching her and he felt both pride and annoyance at them all. Bonnie was there with him and he didn't like them all looking at her. Each one of them was undressing her with their eyes and if it wasn't for Bonnie's hand clutching onto his, he would have made each one eat their own eyeballs. He shook the thoughts away.

"Behave" he told himself under his breath closing his eyes and when he opened them again he looked down at her and pulling her closer to him he dipped her backwards as the music dipped and she started to laugh in glee and pulling her back up towards him he held her close to his body.

The closeness of them both out in the middle of the dance floor with the loud music combined with looking deeply into her eyes made the crowds float away until all that was left was just the two of them alone. Everyone else melted away. The music stopped. No sounds could be heard anymore apart from his heart beating out of control in his ears and bending down he kissed her softly. Her mouth immediately responding to his. His hand held onto her face and he quickly fell deeply into their kiss. His mind fell away from him when he felt her arms snake around his neck, pulling him closer to her.

He pulled away and looked down at her bright shining green eyes, a light lighting her up from within and taking her hand he led her back through the crowd back to the table and throwing down some money he picked up his jacket and turning he slipped it around her and grabbing her face in both of his hands he kissed her full on the mouth again for a brief moment before taking her hand and leading her outside and hailing a cab and both of them climbed quickly into the back with Damon giving the driver the address back to the house.

He settled in next to her and pulled her into his arms and kissed the top of her dark head, closing his eyes and he knew that he had finally come home.

"I love you, Bonbon" he whispered into her hair, breathing her in. "I am never going to let you go"

"I love you, Damon" she whispered back, his heart exploding with all the love he allowed himself to suddenly feel for her. "I will never let you" he pulled her face up to his and he kissed her long and hard. His mind exploded with fireworks and his mouth erupted from the sheer taste of her. He was helpless in falling even more for her and for the first time in his life he didn't ever want to land.

The cab pulled up outside the house and Damon threw money at the drive and grabbing Bonnie by the hand he helped her out of the car and pulled her along the pathway that lead round to the back of the house.

"Where are we going?" she asked him, laughing at his haste.

"You'll see" he smiled back at her over his shoulder.

"Some of us are not so good in the dark" she told him after almost falling over a crack in the paving and stopping he turned and picked her up in his arms.

"Close your eyes" her whispered to her and she did and he loved that she was so trusting of him and smiling down at her he started to run. "Are you ok?" he asked her, setting her back down on her feet again and holding her steady.

Bonnie turned and looked up at the tree house standing like a great big majestic building in front of them and turning back to face him, she frowned.

"I made a vow to my grandmother before she died that I would bring my one true love here the second that I found her" he looked from her to the tree house, his heart starting to beat fast again,

"I'm your true love" she whispered, breathlessly, hardly daring to believe what her ears were telling her.

Damon looked back down at her and nodded. "I hadn't seen it before, but it was always you, Bonnie." he bent towards her and kissed her and wrapping his arms around her he picked her up. "It will always be you" he carried her up the spiral steps and inside, closing the door behind them with his foot.

Sitting next to her on the window seat he slipped his arm around her, pulling her into him. Both of them looking out of the window up at the night sky lit with a thousand stars. He could feet her heart beating fast into the side of his body to match the pace of his own and he shifted slightly where he sat and looked down into her shining green eyes, the mere sight of her lighting him up from within.

"I will never forgive myself for not seeing you sooner" he told her honestly and he never would.

"I forgive you" she smiled back at him, lifting his heart a little higher.

He took her face in both his hands and kissed her long and hard on the mouth before falling backwards from the window seat and pulling her with him, where she landed on the top of him and rolling over he stared deeply into her eyes lying on his side.

The smile lingering in his eyes he tugged at the strings of her dress and it fell open. His hand running up the outside of her body. The sight of her alone sent shivers racing all over his body. But touching her did things to his mind that no other woman ever had. He leaned in and planted soft kisses along her shoulder towards the nape of her neck. His fangs coming out to play and gently he nipped at her collar bone before he travelled down to the edge of her breasts, his fangs slipping back inside his gums to be replaced by soft gentle lips planting tiny kisses and nibbles and he lost his mind when she moaned underneath him.

Damon gasped at the sounds she made, both of his arms snaking around her back and he pulled her closer to him, his body pressing down hard onto hers. He wanted to be even closer to her than he already was. He pulled away from her and sat down on his knees, staring down at her in her black underwear, his breathing went out of control and ripping his shirt off his own back he threw it behind him and unbuttoned his pants and tugged them off, almost falling on top of her, but his hands hit the floor either side of her head and he leant down and kissed her full on the mouth. Her hands ran through his hair, grabbing him hard and pulling him into her and he couldn't help the groans that were escaping him now.

His hand ran down the full length of her body and she moved slowly under him, turning his mind and body to mush. He had to have her. He just couldn't wait. Her pull on him was a lot stronger than he had ever experienced before. She was breathtakingly beautiful and she was now his.

His hands roamed to places that he never knew she would allow. His left hand travelled down over her stomach whilst the other travelled up towards the back of her head and cupping her she kissed her hard whilst his left hand found just where it wanted to be and she started to cry out underneath him.

"You are so beautiful" he whispered into the side of her face as he felt his excitement growing even more and he had no other choice but to give into it.

Damon moved a little more on top of her as he slid down her underwear, his mouth was kissing hers with an hunger than seemed to consume them both as he felt himself slip home. They both cried out in pleasure and she bit his lip hard enough to break the skin and feeling the blood flow he felt her kissing him with an intensity that stole him away from himself and losing his mind again, he fell even more in love with her.

"Pancakes" she grinned up at him after him placed a plate in front of her at the table. "I missed these annoying things" she picked up the cream and squirted out two small fangs and looked up at him as he sat down opposite her, a smile on his face that she had never seen him wear before now.

"Me too" he replied before taking a sip from his OJ. "It wasn't all bad was it?"

She shook her head, still smiling at him brightly. "No, there were so many great moments, too" she started to laugh as she squirted out fangs on to his pancakes and he winked at her. "We did after all watch the bodyguard a gazillion times and I think that might have been where you learnt that wicked move from when you carried me like some kind of knight in dirty armour" sitting back down she collapsed into a fit of giggles.

"That Kevin Costner knows a thing or too" he laughed back, shoving a forkful of pancake into his mouth. "I have missed this" his face suddenly became serious. "I missed us just being together like this and I don't even have to try hard to imagine that the whole world's population have vanished, leaving behind just you and me" he reached across the table and covered her hand with his own. "I really do love you, you know" she nodded getting to her feet and eyed her suspiciously. "Where are you going?"

"To bed" she informed him, picking up the squirty cream and with a little wink. "Are you coming to join me?" she called back over her shoulder and he leapt to his feet and she started to run, with him giving chase. "You cheater" she cried out, collapsing against him, wrapping both arms around his neck when he caught her at the foot of the stairs and picking her up, he kissed her and carried her the rest of the way up the stairs.

"But you so love me anyway" he nibbled the side of her neck, making her squeal out in delight.

"I do" she breathed breathlessly into his chest, feeling his strong arms holding her close to his body.

"And I love you more for it" he told her kicking open the bedroom door before kicking it closed behind them and making a run for the huge bed and jumping on it with her still in his arms. "God I could eat you all up" he let her fall back onto the bed and he dived on top of her, his mouth hitting between her breasts, planting so many kisses that they both lost count. "And never stop"

She lay back in his arms, her head resting on his shoulders. "It was never love at first sight for us. It was with you and Elena" she told him closing her eyes, wishing that she didn't feel the way she did about her best friend, but she couldn't help but feel jealous over her for the first time in her life.

"There is no such thing as love at first sight" he told her, running his hand through her hair before crushing the ends gently between his fingers.

"No?" She asked him, closing her eyes, savouring the feeling.

"There is only lust at first sight and that isn't real and doesn't last" he moved down the bed and rolled onto his side, facing her. "Love comes from taking a deeper look"

She smiled at him as she caressed his face. "And did you take a deeper look?"

He nodded, leaning over and kissing her softly. "I looked right into your soul and finally saw what I was missing" he kissed her again and once again she stole his breath away. The very feel of her lips on his caressing her very soul alight with a flame so strong that he feared it would burn him from the inside out. "What I thought I felt for Elena, is nowhere as near or as strong as what I feel for you, Bonnie Shelia Bennet" he grinned at her, kissing her on the chin and giving it a little nibble, making her cry out in a fit of giggles. "Let's put it this way" he told her, her hand in his and he watched his own fingers curling around her tiny delicate ones. "I have been searching all my life for someone to make me feel the way you do" he told her, propping himself up on his elbow again. "For a hundred and fifty years I have been looking for that one person to spend my life with. To live my life with. But what I have kept finding was someone to spend the long lonely dark nights with and I don't want that anymore" he pulled himself up onto his knees, taking her hand in his and kissing it. "And I would want nothing more than to spend every single one of those with you, bathed in your own light" his hand moved under his pillow too fast for her to see. "Bonnie" he said with the lop sided smile she loved so much. "Will you spend the rest of forever with me and be my wife?"

Her eyes lit up and she flew into his arms, wrapping her arms around his neck, kissing him breathless.

"Is that a yes?" He asked her with a happy chuckle.

'Yes" she cried out, kissing him again.

"Yes' he repeated, hardly daring to believe what she was saying.

"Yes" she burst into giggles, pulling back to look deeply into his eyes. 'I will spend every night with you for the rest of forever"

"I am going to hold you to that one" he kissed her again, harder than he meant too and pulled back a little, but she surprised him when she grabbed him and pulled his face even harder into her own and falling into her arms, he let go.

"Never let me go" she whispered to him and he pulled back slightly in alarm.

"I promise that I will never leave you"

Damon's soul seemed to take off. His heart lifted with a light he rejoiced in and grabbing her he kissed her hard, pulling her down onto the bed they made love and he had never before experienced the emotional charge it gave him. It felt even better than his first real taste of blood and he knew then that nothing would ever be able to compare to how she made him feel, again. He was a man in love and now he felt it, he knew that the past few times hadn't even come close.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

"What are you talking about?" he roared down the phone, running his hand through his hair in frustration. "You can't" he fell against the wall, closing his eyes, losing his mind. "I will come home and I will take away everything from you. Everything" he snapped, his anger rising with his voice and he listened to the other end of the phone, his eyes opening and he saw red. "Well, when are you playing to pull this idiotic little stunt?" he started to pace again. "Fine. But if anything happens between now and then, I will kill you myself" he hung up the phone and turned and saw her standing there. "Bonnie" he whispered when he saw her worried eyes fall upon his.

"Who was that?" she asked him, walking towards him and he sat down on the bench and shook his head, placing his face in his hands. "Damon, who was it on the phone?"

He turned desperate eyes on her. "It was Stefan and he wants to"

"You threatened to kill Stefan" she balked, not sure why he would even say let alone consider such a thing. "Why, Damon?" she asked him when he didn't answer and again he shook his head. "Why?" she was starting to grow nervous now and she grabbed him and pulled him back to face her, looking deeply into his eyes that now were pale and sad. "Please, Damon, I need to know.

He knew that he had no other choice than to come clean to her, and he hated having to be the one to tell her. "Mary Louise has found a way to wake Elena up" he turned his head not wanting to see the look on her face when she digested that piece of information, but he also didn't want her to see the stray tear falling down his face and he quickly wiped it away.

"Oh" was all she could say to that little bombshell.

Damon spun around and took a hold of her face. "I am in love with you, Bonbon and I will never let anything bad happen to you" he pulled her into his arms and hugged her tightly. "Nothing and no one will hurt you. I promise you that. I would fight the whole world to keep you safe. Even my own brother"

"When?" she asked him, trying to pull away from him to look into his face, but he refused to let her go.

"Tonight" he whispered into the nape of her neck, more tears wanting to flow. "And if I could. If I could I would stop it from happening" he couldn't feel his heart beating anymore, his chest was constricting too much and he could barely get his own words out straight.

"But there is a way for Elena to come back" Bonnie looked over his shoulder, a smile on her face and tears sprang to her gaze. "She can come back. She will live again"

"Not if it means me losing you" Damon was on his feet again and pacing. "I won't lose you for anyone" he half snarled into the darkening night sky. "I don't care who it is for, I will not put you at risk" he voice went out of control and his throat grew hoarse. "I can't lose you"

Bonnie got to her feet and threw her arms around his middle. "What did he say?"

He wrapped his arm around her, the other he ran throw his hair, closing his eyes. "He said that there was a spell that the heretic's can perform to wake her up safely and that you will be fine. But I don't trust any of them heretic freaks" he growled a little, wanting to kill them all to stop them doing something that could destroy his whole world.

"I trust Stefan" she told him taking his hand into hers and leading him back to the bench and sat him down gently. "I trust Stefan and I know you do deep down. Damon he is your brother and he would never do anything to hurt you and I would like to think of him as a friend. Don't you trust him"

Damon looked up at her standing in front of him. "I trust you"

"Then please trust me when I say this" she sat down next to him, a bright smile on her face. "If it means that Elena can come back, then they should do it. It isn't fair on her. She didn't ask for any of this. She is just another victim of Kai's that is paying long after he is dead and"

Damon stopped her talking with a kiss and stole her words away. Every thought he managed to cling onto from bouncing around his head and every one of them was he couldn't lose her. He was being selfish again and he didn't care. If it meant Elena sleeping for the rest of eternity to keep Bonnie safe, then he wouldn't acre. Not now. But he couldn't bring himself to say the words to her out loud.

"Damon, are you worried about seeing her again?" she asked him and he shook his head, he really wasn't. "But what if all those feelings you had for her are still there"

Damon held onto her a little more tightly now, his heart crushing under both of their pain. "I am in love with you and no one will ever be able to change that" he said kissing the top of her head, his arms holding her as tightly as he could without breaking her back. "Shall we do something?" she nodded underneath him and he smiled. "Let's take a walk down to the beach"

"I'd like that" she smiled into his chest, feeling like she was starting to lose control of her own little world again and she hated the thought of losing him back to Elena, but she hated the thought of dying and leaving him all alone even more. And not being able to express herself to him was slowly killing her.

There was still a warmness to the air. The sky was lit up with only the moon shining down upon them. He sat there next to her on the rock, both of them watching the waves lapping up ono the shore. It should have been calming him, but each time the waves hit the shore softly, his heart sank further down into his feet and he had to keep biting back the howl from escaping his lips.

All he wanted to do was howl up at the moon like some kind of maniac. But he didn't want to alarm her with the true extent of his feelings for her. He heard a few people walking onto the beach a little way down and standing he took her hand into his own.

"Want to go swimming?" he asked with a naughty little smile. "Let's get naked" he told her when she gave him a questioning look. "Back over there inside one of the caves is a natural pool" she got to her feet and took his hand, allowing him to lead her in the dark towards the caves, her heart beating harder with her excitement.

"Will it be safe?" she asked him, not forgetting her life guard training, but she didn't know what kind of creatures would be living inside those caves.

"I won't let anything happen to you" he promised her, giving her a reassuring look. "But you are going to need to make some fire, unless of course you want to swim in the dark" he feigned pain when she mock punched him on the arm. "Through here" he whispered to her, wrapping his arm around her shoulders and being her eyes until they were safely inside. "Ready?" he asked her turning her to a small corner of the cave and all of a sudden the whole cave lit up and her eyes flew up to meet his when she saw the natural little pool inside the cave and started to undress then it was his turn to became awed by the sight of her in her underwear again.

"You really are something else, Bon" he went to kiss her but she pushed him back and ran and jumped into the pool and a few seconds later, he dived in just behind her. "You won't escape my clutches for long" he teased her as he walked slowly towards her, pushing up back into the side of the pool, his mouth meeting the side of her neck, her breathing going out of control and he looked at her with a smile that light up her mind when he kissed her hard on the mouth, the kiss lingering long after he pulled away and smiled down at her.

"Have you fed?" she asked him and he gave her a disgusted look, but shook his head. "Damon you are going to need to feed" she craned her neck, exposing a small delicate vein that now caught his eye.

"No" he whispered weakly, wanting to taste her again, but not wanting her to be his own personal blood bag.

"I want you too" she breathed hard again, his legs turning to jelly and he had to grab onto the side of the pool behind her to stop himself from sinking. "Damon, feed from me" she closed her eyes and he stared down at her face, his fang pushing themselves down to come out to play.

"No" he whispered to her, the thrill of biting her again washing over him and he almost lost his mind and did it, but again he shook his head.

She moved a little closer to him, wrapping her arms around his neck, pulling his head down towards her throat. "Feed from me" she said again in a voice that he was finding it hard to refuse. "Then I will drink from you"

That was it, the words that broke through his tightly held control and he gave in to her and to himself and bit down into her neck and the moment that her blood rushed into his mouth all heady and vibrant she let out a little moan and now he knew what it was. It was one filled with pleasure and he groaned, growing with excitement as she gasped underneath him. He pulled his head back and picking up a small rock her broke it in two and drew the sharpened end across the nape of his neck and pulled her towards him. Her mouth hit his neck when he slipped inside her, his mouth biting down onto her shoulder and they drank from each other while he made love to her. He was sustaining her as she was him and it was the best movement of his entire life and he never wanted it to end. But he had to and feeling her body respond to his as he cried out in ecstasy he flopped his head onto her shoulder and held on tightly. Fear clinging onto him again that if he blinked he would lose her and that was something that he now knew he could never allow to happen. Pulling her face up to his he kissed her blood covered mouth and his heart exploded with his love for her.

"Marry me tomorrow" he suddenly said pulling back a little.

"What?" she gasped shocked at what he just said.

"Marry me tomorrow?" she nodded and he kissed her again, his whole world now fit perfectly into place.

"Thank you for coming out on such short notice" he shook his hand and saw the cab pulling up behind him, his smile widening at the sight of it.

"It is going to be a wonderful wedding ceremony" the minister said shaking Damon's hand.

"Thank you again for doing this"

"It was so good to meet you both" he told Damon looking over his shoulder at the cab. "I will leave you to it and I will see you both tonight at six o'clock" the minister smiled back at him before climbing into his car and starting it up.

Damon's smile fell from his face slightly when she saw Stefan climb out followed by an excited Elena. "Elena" he gasped and the smile brightened on her face and she made a move to run to him, but his stiff stance stopped her in her tracks, her smile faltering.

"What is going on?" Stefan asked Damon, watching the minister's car make its way down the driveway.

Damon frowned at them both and stepping aside they both walked into the house and taking a deep breath he closed the door and followed them both into the den and sat down on the arm of a chair. "Who's getting married?" Elena asked him, confused by Damon's reaction on seeing her again. "Where's Bonnie?"

"Shopping" Damon replied getting back to his feet. "Make yourselves comfortable while I go make us some coffee" he told them both before walking out of the den, wishing that they hadn't just turned up and so soon.

He refilled the coffee pot with fresh coffee beans and switched it on, praying for time to come clean to them both.

"What's going on, Damon?" Stefan walked into the kitchen behind him and turning Damon eyed him up before he saw Elena standing at his side. "You haven't so much as cracked a smile since we arrived here. You don't even seem happy to see us"

"Damon, are you not happy that I am awake?" she asked him, her voice breaking on the last word and his heart stood still in his chest.

"Elena, we need to talk" he told her as he filled up three coffee mugs and handed one to each of them and picking up his own he walked out of the back door and into the morning sunshine and she walked out behind while Stefan pulled out a stool and sat at the breakfast bar, listening in and he was now more confused than anyone else.

"Damon" she sat down next to him under the pergola. "Aren't you happy to see me?"

He nodded in reply, but he couldn't force himself to look at her now. "Of course I am happy to see you"

"Then why are you so distant with me?" he heard her voice cracking, but still he couldn't make himself turn and look her in the eye.

"You are scaring me now" she felt the tears threatening to break free, but the house phone ringing stopped them from falling when he leapt to his feet and looked back at the house.

"I'm so sorry, Elena" he spoke low, a lump forming at the back of his throat. "I'm in love with Bonnie"

"You fell in love with my best friend?" she asked him, shocked and he nodded his head, taking her hand in his he sat back down next to her. "How?" she cried out. "What I mean is when?"

"Does that really matter?" he looked at the brightly coloured flowers climbing up the pergola.

"No" she whispered at his side. "I have always known you had feelings for Bonnie" he turned and looked down at her in surprise. "But I didn't think for one second that you would have fallen in love with her"

"I am sorry that I hurt you, Elena. But I am not sorry for falling in love with Bonnie" he knew that he would never be sorry for that, not now, not ever.

"I guess if you spend four months with someone this was bound to happen" she looked away from his gaze, down at her hands resting on her lap.

"It happened way before we died" he admitted to both her and himself. "I think it happened when I stayed behind on that island when she went missing. I don't know" he told her, swallowing a lump that tried to form at the back of his throat to steal his words away from him, and he knew that if he had to do this today, then he was doing it right. "I guess I was just too afraid to admit my true feelings for fear of getting hurt by another woman that I loved. But that doesn't matter now. All that matters is"

"You love Bonnie and you never loved me" she finished for him and he shook his head sadly at her still looking down at her hands in her lap and he pulled her face up to look at his.

"I will always love you, Elena" he told her, wishing that he could make her see that he did love her. "But I was never in love with you. Not like I am with Bonnie" he looked into her big brown eyes, a sadness washing over him now that it had all came to a head. "What we had, you and I, it was never real, Elena" Damon looked back down the garden at the trees moving gently in the breeze. "You were never in love with me, and I was never in love with you. It was always Stefan" he looked at her sitting next to him, soft tears flowing gently down her face and his heart broke for her. "You and I both know that it was always Stefan. And I think I wanted you more because you were his and I couldn't have you. And plus you were the image of Katherine. And I know you are nothing like her. But I think those things played a major part in my wanting you and I' m so sorry for doing this to you"

Nodding her head she wiped her tears away with her sleeve. "Yeah" she smiled weakly up at him. "You are right. It was always Stefan that I loved" she gave him a small smile and he leapt to his feet when he heard the back door open and saw Stefan running towards with him the phone in his hand.

"What is it?" he asked when he saw the panic written all over his brother's face.

"It's Bonnie" Stefan handed Damon the phone.

Smiling he took the phone and walked a few paces into the garden. "Bon" he said in a tone that shocked both Stefan and Elena. "I have a" his face fell and he spun on his heels and looked at Stefan, whose pale face matched his own and Elena looked form one to the other in panic. "I am on my way" he hung up the phone, his whole world falling apart on him in under a second. "Bonnie is at the hospital, she's been run over"

"Then we all go" Elena told them both, grabbing the untouched coffee's.

"Yeah" Damon said, his mind a jumbled mess and he had no idea what he would do if anything happened to her.

"She will be ok" Elena reassured him and nodding Damon flew into the house and left them both standing there staring after him.

At the hospital he flew from the car before Stefan even had a chance to park up and ran towards the main entrance. Each step he took filled him with dread. He had no idea what he would be greeted with. His heart hadn't beat since he had that phone call and now he wished that he had gone with her or told her that he would marry her with what she was standing in. He couldn't lose her, not now and that frightened him more than anything ever had.

"Bonnie" he panted when he reached the nurses station, glaring at her when she failed to take him to her.

"We have come to see Bonnie Bennett" Elena said from his side and he looked down at her in gratitude, his words escaping him before they had a chance to leave his lips.

"Are you family?" the nurse asked them getting to her feet and his mind went blank.

"How is she?" Stefan and Elena both asked at the same time and Damon turned grateful eyes on them before turning back to the nurse.

"She has sustained two broken legs, slight concussion and a few stiches to the temple and a shattered left wrist and a few broken ribs" she looked from each of them with sympathy. "But I can't allow you into see her unless you are family"

"Fiancé" Damon managed to get out passed the lump in the back of his throat that was now slowly choking him.

The nurse nodded at him, stepping out from behind the desk. "Follow me" she stopped, looking back at Stefan and Elena. "You'll both have to wait here"

"But I" Elena started to say, but Damon held up his hand and followed behind the nurse and so she sat down on one of the hard uncomfortable seats.

"Did he just say that he was her" Stefan still couldn't believe what he had heard his own brother say. "Her fiancé"

Elena nodded, not knowing how to land the same bombshell on him that Damon had dropped into her lap. "He is" she started to say before her words fell away the same time as they both heard Damon's angry voice yelling from behind the glass doors.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN SHE'S GONE" he seethed like a savage animal and both Stefan and Elena jumped to their feet as the glass doors banged open and he appeared with two nurses and a doctor following behind him. "HOW?" he barked at them all, his face like thunder. "TELL ME HOW A WOMAN WITH BOTH HER LEGS BROKEN AND WITH CONCUSSION IS ABLE TO WALK OUT OF HERE ON HER OWN" he pinned the doctor against the wall.

"We don't know" the doctor struggled to speak under Damon's tightening hand around his neck.

"Then find out and find her" Damon threw the doctor back into the glass doors. "NOW" he started to pace back and forth, his hands grasping at air, wishing he could break someone's neck. "FIND HER" he growled loudly at anyone and everyone that came near him and turning he grabbed the built in nurses station and flipped it across the room, where it crashed into wall loud enough to deafen the dead in the morgue.

"Damon" he looked up at his brother as his legs went from under him and he fell to the floor in a crumpled heap the whole room now spinning on him.

"Where is she?" he asked Stefan, his heart felt like it was being crushed as his chest tightened and he couldn't breathe again.

"We will find her" Stefan sat down on the floor next to him and put his arm around his shoulder and watched his brothers heart break in front of his eyes and it shocked him when he openly started to cry, turning into him, grabbing a hold of his shirt.

"I can't lose her" he cried, his sobs choking him and feeling Elena's hand on his back he turned and fell into her arms, shaking both of them with his sobs. "We'll find her" she promised him, stroking his back and Stefan sat next to them both looking at the new display in shock.

"We are getting married later today" Damon said aloud to no one in particular. "We need to find her" he let go of Elena and slowly he climbed back to his feet, a phone ringing from somewhere, but he ignored it, trying to think of where she could be.

"Um, Damon Salvatore" he turned on hearing his name and took the phone from one of the nurses.

"Hello" he frowned back at Stefan as he watched him taking the call and Damon's face fell even more. "Touch one hair on her head and I will kill you and everyone that you have ever spoken to" he snarled into the phone before hanging up. "Julian's band of insane men have her and they won't let her go until I hand myself in" he wiped at his face with his hands and bit the palm of one to stop himself from screaming out.

"We have to go to her" she said to them both, her heart beating too fast.

"Where have they taken her?" he asked Damon.

"I don't know. They will call again at home in the next hour" he walked out of the hospital and into the path of three police cars, all pointing guns at him. What the"

"Put your hands up where I can see them" one of the officers yelled at him and he cocked his head to the side, a feral grin spreading across his pale face.

"I don't think so" he carried on walking towards them.

"Stop or I will shoot" another started shouting at him and again he shook his head.

"Go ahead" Damon yelled back at them all. "Shoot me, see if I care"

A shot was fired and he fell back into Stefan, the bullet hitting him in the left shoulder and everything became silent. Stefan shifted him in his arms and helped him back up onto his feet.

"Ouch" Damon groaned, his fingers moving deftly in the wound and yanking out the shell and looking down at it he had the shock of his life. "Wooden" he frowned back over his shoulder.

"They know" Elena gasped, shaking her head.

"Elena" Stefan said, standing next to his brother. "Go back inside the hospital" he still felt her behind him. "Run" he muttered through gritted teeth and she fled back inside the hospital.

Damon heard the hospital door close with a slight bang and started to walk towards the police again. His mind gone and all he felt now was anger. They were standing between him and his life and there was no way that he was going to let them stop him from getting her back.

"Stop or the next one goes in the head" another police officer yelled at him and smiling Damon kept walking forward.

"Fire away" he smirked at them all just before a shot went off and he felt a pain shooting through his whole skull and dropping to his knees he tried to focus and then everything went black and he fell face down onto the concrete, feeling his nose shatter and as he floated away he heard another shoot being fired. "Bonbon" he thought to himself, then he was out.

"Let me out" there was something holding the door closed and no matter how many times he kicked at it or threw his shoulder into it, it wouldn't budge an inch. "I'm coming for you all" he bellowed through the thick wooden door. "Open this damn door and let me out" he felt his frustration biting into his mind and all he wanted to do was get out of there and find Bonnie. "Let me out" he cried out again, his anger ripping open every single wound he has ever had in his whole entire life. "If you don't let me out of here right now then I am going to kill every single one of you" he threw himself into the door again, feeling his shoulder dislocate from the force. "Dead" he barked at whoever walking passed outside. "You are all dead" he threw himself into the door again, the pain only driving him on. "Dead men walking" he growled, his anger through the roof.

The small hatch in the door opened and in peered a pair of dark green eyes and Damon snarled at them. "Calm yourself down" he heard him shout into the cell.

"Let me out of here before I tear you and this god forsaken prison to nothing but a pile of even uglier rubble" he felt his face start to contort.

"You are not leaving here until you have been on in court tomorrow morning" he smiled in at Damon mockingly.

Backing up a little Damon threw himself back into the door, a wild snarl escaping his whole being. "GET ME OUT OF HERE RIGHT NOW"

The guard shook his head and smiled at Damon's livid face. "Sorry, princess, but you are going nowhere until the big van takes you to the big house in the morning" blowing a kiss in at Damon he slid the hatch across.

Damon stood there and glared at the hatch, an idea hitting him and a sly smile crossed his face. "Oh I will be calm" he smirked at the back of the door, his hand hitting the hatch until it fell out on to the floor with a soft little thud on the other side of the door. "Real calm" he smirked to himself shoving his whole arm through and finding the lock and pulling back the bolt he pushed the door only to find it opened inwards and he shook his head at his own stupidity and walked out into corridor.

She could barely breath through the pain. But there was no way that she was going to give up and let these goons keep her down. Twisting her head a little she tried to see through the blindfold, but it was useless, it was tied far too tight and now she was starting to get a headache again. She had no idea where she was. All she could hear was Damon's name being mentioned every few minutes and she prayed that he would use his head and stay away.

"What" she heard one of the goons laughing with a deep booming cackle. "Arrested?"

Bonnie turned and almost cried out when a pain in her chest stole her breath away and closing her eyes she felt tears stream down her face past the blindfold.

"Yes, arrested" she heard a female voice say in glee and she cringed inwardly, hoping that she was lying. "Wrecked the nurses station after you took his little human plaything"

"Witch" a second guy spoke up and Bonnie wished that she could see who she was dealing with. "And by the looks of it, she is now awake"

Bonnie felt the blindfold tugged from her head and she glared up at this huge goon. "I'm glad that Julian is dead" she smiled up at him with a sickly sweet smile. "Saves me the job of getting my hands dirty"

He grabbed her by the scruff and yanked her up onto her feet, the smile still plastered and shook her and biting her lip to stop herself from screaming with the pain that now shrouded her entire body.

Brightly coloured lights started to swim in her vision but there was no way that she was going to allow herself to pass out again. She held up her hand and tried to break his neck, but her concentration was all over the place and she couldn't see anymore, everything was too blurry.

"Ah" the girl feigned empathy. "Can you not focus to do your little magic tricks, princess Tenko?" she laughed in Bonnie's face.

Bonnie smiled into the unknown face despite her pain. "I wouldn't need magic to take care of you pop tart"

"Who is she calling pop tart" another female voice giggled and the first girl snarled back in reply.

"As if it wasn't jersey shored up enough in here as it was" Bonnie retorted, shaking her head in disgust.

"Krystal" the second girl laughed. "Is she calling you cheap?"

Bonnie's eyes came back into focus slightly and she turned and looked at Krystal. "Krystal with a K" she burst out laughing when the girl nodded at her. "He certainly was reaching into the bottom of the barrel for you, wasn't he" she shook her head in pity at her. "You might want to go pick up your skank skirt before the local church declares war on it and burns it at the stake for diseases"

"Bitch" she gasped punching Bonnie in the face, breaking her nose, but still Bonnie laughed, feeling the blood run down your face. "I'm going to kill you" she roared as the bigger vampire pulled her away from Bonnie.

"Been there so many times that I have actually lost count" Bonnie looked at the girl with amusement. "But be my guest" she waved her hand around her, winding up Krystal with a K and wondered what the hell had Damon seen in her.

"I will kill you" she bellowed as the bigger vampire kept dragging her away.

"We need her alive or we will never avenge Julian" he warned her, letting her go when she nodded. "Good, now stay away from her until he gets here and then you can have first shot at ripping her head off"

"Ok" Krystal shook him off her and sat down on a crate. "Well he had better hurry and get out of jail or I'm killing her anyway"

The hand holding Bonnie up let go and she cried out in pain when her legs gave way and she landed on the floor in a painful heap. She felt something digging into her hip and using her good arm she rolled over onto her other side and pulled her phone out of her pocket, thanking her lucky stars that she still had it and it was working. But she couldn't dial Damon, he had broken his phone back at the hotel. Closing her eyes she sighed a little, wishing he had gotten himself a new phone.

"Stefan" she thought to herself when she saw his name flash up on her screen with a text and opening her inbox she read it. "Bonnie I know where you are and I am going to get Damon out and we are coming to get you. Stay safe"

She smiled to herself, hugging her phone, praying that her focus would come back so that she could at least try and fight her way out of there.

Letting the officer drop to the floor he stood there and looked down at all the bodies of the police officers lying scattered all around his feet, wiping the blood from his face with the sleeve of his jacket and grimaced when blood stained the inner cuff and cursing to himself he closed his eyes and wished he knew where they were hiding her. He stiffened when he heard a sound behind him and spinning on his feet ready to attack he saw Stefan walking into the holding area, his eyes wide open.

"You have remained calm I see" Stefan grabbed Damon by the labels of his jacket. "I know where Bonnie is"

"You do?" he asked him, his voice breaking with the weight of his worry. "Then let's go"

Stefan shook his head and Damon's eyes bulged in shook. "We have to plan our move" Damon pushed past him and headed for the door. "We cannot walk in there blindly" Stefan called out after him and Damon stopped in the doorway, keeping his back to him.

"I would rather walk in the blind than not walk in there at all and risk losing her" Stefan watched his brothers shoulders drop.

"We will all die"

"I don't care about dying Stefan" Damon spun around and glared at him. "I would gladly die a million painful deaths just to keep her safe, do you get that?" he watched his brother nodding. "I don't care about me or even what happens to me. All I care about her is and keeping her safe and for the first time in my whole existence, I am putting another person's life above my own and no faking it this time"

"You faked it with Elena?" Stefan gasped and Damon closed his eyes, and feeling ashamed, he nodded back at him.

"I knew that I was never going to die any of those times recusing Elena" he wrinkled his nose, wishing he didn't have to come clean, but now the words were out there was no pushing them back in again. "It was all risk free. But this time I do not know if I am going to go in there and walk back out. I am unsure how this is going to end. But I would rather die fighting for her life on my feet than live on my knees without her"

"You really do love her, don't you?" Stefan said to him and Damon nodded with a half-smile on his face.

"I really do" Damon turned to leave and looking to the side of him he found Stefan standing there next to him.

"Then you and I are going to have to fight this together to get my future sister in law out of there alive" he smiled at Damon and ran out of the police station with Damon hot on his trail.

"Are you kidding me" he grimaced looking up at the abandoned warehouse. "How cliché can these dicks be" he turned back to Stefan who just shrugged his shoulders at him. "They're keeping my girl locked up in this germ riddled hell hole with open wounds" he gritted his teeth so hard that Stefan feared them cracking.

"Let's just get in, find Bonnie and get her out of here" Stefan told him and Damon gave him a look. "I mean it. Bonnie needs medical attention and the longer she is in there, the more in danger she becomes"

"She just needs some more of my blood" Damon said under his breath, looking up at a dirty window on the building again.

"What?"

"Nothing" Damon frowned at his brother who was no glaring at him now.

"You fed her your blood, again?" Stefan shook his head, hardly believing anything Damon does anymore.

"I had no other choice?" Damon told him, shuddering at the memory of her almost draining herself to help him escape Julian's back up squad. "She would have bleed out. But that is in the past now and we need to get her out of there" he waved his hand in fury at the warehouse. "And before my bride dies would be even better" he finished in a low bark.

"You fed her your blood" Stefan said again, annoying Damon.

"Yes" he replied with an angry smile. "Yes I did and I will do it again. Now let's go in and bust her, the hell out of there" he made to move a step forward but Stefan held him back and turned him to face him.

"You fed her your blood" Stefan repeated again, driving Damon nuts.

"Yes for the last time" Damon threw up his hands. "I gave her some of my blood, not only once, but twice or was it three times" he shrugged. "But that is not the point here, Stefan. The whole frigging point is to get her the hell out of there"

"And so if she dies she becomes a vampire and she will hate you for the rest of your forever together. If" he pointed at him and Damon glared at him. "If your forever will make it past the transition"

"I would rather she hate me for the rest of eternity than be dead" Damon growled at him, shaking his head. "It was days ago and it would be out of her system by now" he took a step closer to the warehouse. "So if she dies then she dies for real and then I am holding you responsible for keeping me out here talking about things that don't even matter anymore" he was losing his head again and Stefan saw that and nodded at him. "What about the blood I feed her when we made love? Was it still in her system?" he thought to himself and shook them away; he had no time to try and figure that one out just yet.

"Ok, let's go and get her out of there and we are not" the last of his words fell away from him when Damon flew into the entrance of the bulling and he had no other choice but to follow suit.

"Ready" he whispered to his brother at his side before kicking open the door and walking into the main space.

"You could have just pushed it open" Stefan shook his head walking in behind him.

"I could have, but I didn't" Damon retorted looking around the wide space and saw her lying on the floor a few feet away from him, her face covered in blood and she was so still. "Bonnie" he cried out as he ran across the space between them and was about to drop onto his knees at her side when he felt someone hit him in the stomach and he flew back across the room, hitting a few crates.

"There he is" he heard her voice and getting off the floor he looked at Krystal, spitting out a little blood. "My last lay"

"My cheap one night stand" he said in the same flat tone. "If you have harmed one hair on"

"Blah, blah, blah" she shimmied over to him, looking him up and down. "Don't tell me that you actually like the little bland thing"

"Love her actually you cheap little bitch" he said in the same uncaring tone as he would have used for any of Julian's back up bicthes. "I was wondering" he said to her and she nodded for him to go on. "Is it Krystal with a K because you lack class" he smirked at her before kicking her legs out from underneath her and breaking open a crate he threw a piece of wood behind him and took down one of the little guys. "Bullseye" he raised his eyebrows at her as he glazed down at her lying on her back. "Still on your back I see" he stepped over her and kicked her in the ribs when he saw the bigger guy at Bonnie's side with a knife held to her throat and he ran across the room towards them. "No" he croaked as he stopped just short of them both, a tiny droplet of blood running down her graceful décolletage.

"Look over there" the bigger vampire nodded behind Damon and turning he saw his brother being held by two other vampires. "You make one more move and not only will I cut the throat of your witch girlfriend" he laughed deeply when he spoke. "But, they will tear out your baby brother's heart and to make sure that he is really dead, they will rip his head from his neck. After all, that is the way all rippers prefer to go out" he crouched down next to Bonnie and Damon saw him pressing the blade a little more and he held up his hands.

"You have me" he said, not taking his eyes from the blood still flowing gently down her throat. "Let her and my brother go and I will surrender myself in peace" he saw the bigger guys mistrust. "And he will take her out of here in peace and then you can kill me, anyway you see fit, just don't hurt either of them. Not for me. Not for what I did to Julian"

"For what" Stefan started to say and Damon turned and glared back at him and he shut his mouth again.

"I killed Julian with that chair" Damon raised his arms at his side and pulled a crazy face before letting them fall back at his side. "It is me you need to punish, not these two. But me. I killed Julian and if I had the chance to do it all over again, then I would, because I enjoyed every second of it and I would love to get the chance to kill him again" the big guy growled at him and Damon's smirked widened.

Damon's heart slowly started to return to its normal rhythm when the bigger vampire laid her head back down on the floor and stepped away from her, walking towards Damon. "I am going to have the greatest pleasure killing you"

"How could you kill Julian when you were screwing me against the wall?" Krystal piped up suddenly, frowning at Damon.

"That was after" Damon spat at her through gritted teeth, praying she wasn't about to ruin his quick thought up plan.

"No" she shook her head, walking around him, eyeing him up. "It wasn't. It was during. Because he was still alive when I got that Tequila and came around to yours and you didn't leave my sight after I arrived and so it must have been you" she turned her eyes on Stefan, angering Damon further.

"I think you have been screwing around way too much, it has rattled your brain" Damon chuckled, annoyed. "Well whatever brain you do have inside that vapid head of yours"

"It was you" She flew to stand in front of Stefan and Damon turned to face his brother, his eyes grave now.

"So what" Stefan laughed in her face. "Do you honestly think Julian even cared about any of you. He was a liar and he was crazy and manipulative for his own end. So do you honestly think he cared about you?"

Damon watched her ram her hand inside his brother's chest and he flew across the room and shoved his hand into her back and pulled out her heart. Stefan gasped in pain and took in a deep gulp of air just as the bigger guy picked him up by the neck and threw him back across the room. He hit a crate side on and it shattered under his weight, stabbing him in the kidney. He closed his eyes and pulled the sharp piece of wood out of his body and got back to his feet only to be kicked in the chest. He lost his breath when the blow winded him and doubling over he tried to get his breath back.

"Giving up pip squeak" he looked up at his amused faced and shook his head. "Oh goody"

"The only time that I will ever give up is when I no longer have a heart" Damon spat at him, heading back for more. "But try not to give up when you become exhausted Shrek" he heard Stefan gasp and turning he saw one of the vampires holding him about to tear off his head and ignoring the ogre he ran as fast as he could across the room and leapt in the air, kicking the vampires head clean off and the other turned in shook and as he landed Damon tore out his heart. "Get her out of here" Damon told him.

"I can't leave"

"Get her out of here" Damon repeated, turning back towards the giant troll. "Now, Stef"

"Let him take your little girlfriend and run away with her. It is you that I have wanted to kill ever since you killed my brother in the ring by staking him" he clicked his neck, turning Damon's stomach.

"That great big ugly ogre was your brother" Damon stopped walking and smirked up at him. "Now you mention it, I can see the great ugly family resemblance"

Damon started to laugh in his face, most of it was relief that Stefan had managed to get Bonnie out of there and to safety. But that was short lived when he felt someone shove their hand into his back and grab his heart. He gasped for air, his eyes bulging when he felt them slowly pulling it towards his back and he thought that his time was genuinely up and all he wished he had done was marry Bonnie before he died and that was something that he would forever regret in death. Everything started to go black and he couldn't hear anything around him anymore. Then all of a sudden sound came back to him and he opened his eyes and saw the big guy down on his knees and running across the room he wasted no time in shoving his hand into his chest and yanking out his heart before throwing it back down on top of him and turning around he felt the stake slip into his chest and he gagged on the blood that started to seep from his lips and somewhere from a distance he could hear Bonnie shouting his name in fear. His vision was now blurry and he looked into the blonde girls face and before he went down he shoved his hand into her chest and clutched at her heart and then he fell to the floor, the last sound was Bonnie's cries. His last thought was. "She is safe now"

He came to lying in warm arms and opening his eyes he looked up at an angel crying over him. The smile he gave her lit up her whole face, her tears now flowing softly and he felt them falling onto his face.

"I thought you were dead when you started to desiccate" she told him, her voice shaking and he shook his head at her.

"You are not getting rid of me that easily" he tried to sit up but the pain in his chest was unbearable and he looked down and saw that he wasn't healing.

"Vervain on her hand" Stefan told him as he sat down in front of them. "She had a glove on soaked in vervain. Try not to move too much as your heart might fall out" he teased him and that was when Damon realised that he could see his own heart beating through the hole still in his chest. "Drink this" Stefan handed him a blood bag.

Damon drank it down in one and handed it back to his brother, who gave him another. He tore it open with his teeth, drinking that one a little more slower than the last, he could still feel her tears falling onto his face.

"I am ok" he reassured her, looking up at her he caressed her face with his free hand. "Are you ok?"

She nodded. "Stefan healed me. But you are not healing"

"I will heal" he smiled up at her and then a thought hit him. "What time is it?" he asked his brother who looked at his watch. "A little after five" he shook his head. "Why?"

Damon tried to sit up again and winced. "We are getting married at six and we need to get out of here or we are going to miss our own wedding"

Bonnie held him in place, shaking her head with a smile she looked down into his cloudy gaze. "You are not going anywhere until that hole has healed up"

"I need to marry you tonight" he told her, trying to get back up again, but the pain was making him woozy.

"Damon if you get up now then you are going to kill yourself" Stefan warned him.

"I need to marry her tonight" Damon repeated still trying to get up. "I need to do this" he turned pleading eyes on his brother who nodded back at him.

"Then you can marry her right here" he pulled out his phone to call Elena back at the house.

Damon shook his head, struggling to lean forward to grab Stefan by the arm and flopping back against Bonnie he pulled his brother down to him and whispered in his ear. Bonnie frowned down at them both after she failed to hear a single word.

"Ok" Stefan smiled down at his brother as he scooped him up in his arms. "Come on" he smiled down at Bonnie, holding out his hand for her he pulled her up onto her feet. "Let's get him home" she smiled at Damon's happy face and they all walked back out of the warehouse and headed towards Carnina's car.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

Standing there in the suit that Bonnie had picked out for him on her recent shopping trip with Carnina, he felt like he could take on the whole world with her and win. He still had a small hole in his chest that he had to patch up with some thick bandage. He cringed a little when he felt a little of the blood escape through to trickle down his stomach. But he would never ruin the wedding by coming clean to Bonnie to let her know that he still wasn't healing as he should be.

Looking across at his brother he gave him a bright excited smile, his nerves clinging onto him. He had never wanted anything so much in his whole entire life as he did with wanting to marry his one true love. His soul mate.

"You ok?" Stefan asked him, watching the colour drain from Damon's cheeks a little and he nodded, the smile still on his face despite the pain he was in.

"Never better brother" he looked past Stefan at the tree house, his smile brightening at the sight of the first place that he had made love for the first time in his hundred and seventy three years of life. "Today is the start of something amazing for me" turning Damon looked at the minister standing in front of him. "Today I am marrying the girl of my dreams" he felt his heat beating a little fast now that his nerves had completely taken hold of him, the blood starting to trickle with a little more pressure, but still he wouldn't alert anyone to it. "A girl that makes me want to strive to be a better man. A girl that sees a good in me that no one else has ever been able too. A girl that doesn't want to change me, but a girl that makes me want to change myself for her. A girl that will love me for the rest of forever as myself. A girl that stole my heart the first second she had ever scowled at me" and that was the exact moment when he had realised that he had fallen head over heels for Bonnie the first second that he had ever laid eyes on her and the smile spread like wild fire to his painful heart.

"Nona I am going to marry that girl you had always told me I would find and I am going to marry her in front of my special place" he sent the words out on a silent prayer as he gazed up past the lanterns up into the starry evening sky as it started to darken. "I hope you are here with me right now watching this. I love you Nona" he smiled fondly at the stars, wishing that she could have lived long enough to have met Bonnie; he knew she would love her just as much as he did.

"Damon" Stefan whispered at his side and turning he saw Bonnie making her way towards him and it was like the sun had suddenly came out in the middle of night and he smiled at her and watching her smile back at him lit him up from the inside and he couldn't wait to start the rest of his life with her.

"You look" he couldn't find the words powerful enough to help him tell her just how beautiful she was right at the moment in time or how much he loved her, there were no words potent enough and she saw and nodding she smiled back at him, lighting up his soul to match her own delicate replica of his.

"Both Damon and Bonnie have each written their own vows" the minister said, looking from Bonnie to Damon. "You can read yours now"

"I will be your warmth whenever you get cold" he took her hand into his, squeezing it a little, the smile never wavering from his face. "I will be your shelter from the rain. I will be there by your side no matter what life throws at us and I will protect you with my own life, always. I will wander the path that leads us both throughout this life together and for the rest of forever I will love you and I will never stop cherishing each moment that we spend together"

Bonnie's eyes filled with tears, a smile lighting up her face and turning she handed Elena her flowers and shaking with an emotion she had never felt before she turned back to face Damon and he reaching across he wiped a tear from her eyes with a beaming smile.

"I love your flaws and I will live with you throughout every one of your mistakes" she smiled at him and he felt tears forming in his eyes. "I will follow you in the dark and together we will be each other's guiding light. I will protect you from all that tries to destroy you. My love for you will never waver or falter. I will be here with you for as long as I draw breath and my heart still beats. I will want you now and forevermore"

"Now they had both read their vows in front of the people they love and cherish the most. They now have to make a commitment to each other with the exchanging of the rings" the minister looked to Stefan for the rings and he handed them over and placed them on top of the black velvet cushion.

"The ring is the circle of life. Neither has a beginning nor an ending. And by giving and accepting of the rings Damon and Bonnie are vowing to take the other one, not only as their life partner, but as they're missing piece. The circle resembles a life everlasting. For the circle means forever because there is no end to it and there will be no end to the love that Damon and Bonnie possess for each other. Now repeat after me" he looked at Damon and he took a ring from the cushion and turned back to Bonnie with a smile on his face. "I Damon Giuseppe Salvatore will love, honour and protect you, Bonnie Sheila Bennett for as long as I live"

"I Damon Giuseppe Salvatore will love, honour and protect you for as long as I live" Damon said with a shaken voice that made her heart speed up too quickly and she thought that she would pass out from her love for him. "Take this ring as a symbol of my eternal love and fidelity. In the name of everything that I hold within me and the passion that drives me through each day I continue to draw breath" Damon gently pushed the ring onto her finger and kissed her hand, his heart beating fast again, the blood felt like a mini river flowing down his chest, but he still didn't care.

"We hadn't quite got to that part yet" the minister chuckled a little. "But every nicely spoken" he turned to Bonnie and said. "I Bonnie Sheila Bennett will love honour and protect you for as long as I live"

She slipped her ring half way onto Damon's finger, her hands shaking and tears sprang to her eyes and looking up into her, and she saw that a tear was softly running down his cheek, his smile the brightest she had ever seen from him.

"I Bonnie Sheila Bennett will love honour and protect you for as long as I live" she pushed the ring all the way onto his finger. ""Take this ring as a symbol of my eternal love and fidelity. In the name of everything that I hold within me and the passion that drives me through each day I continue to draw breath"

"Again" the minister chuckled. "We hadn't quite reached that part. But every nicely spoken too" Everyone started to laugh along with the minister and both Bonnie and Damon just stood there staring in the eyes of the one person they loved above all others. "Do you, Damon Giuseppe Salvatore take Bonnie Sheila Bennett as your lawfully wedded wife to love and to hold and to cherish for as long as you both shall live?"

"I do and beyond into death" he whispered breathlessly, his eyes never leaving hers.

"And do you, Bonnie Sheila Bennett take Damon Giuseppe Salvatore as your lawfully wedded husband to love and to hold and to cherish for as long as you both shall live?"

"I do" she grinned up him. "And beyond that into death"

"You may now kiss your bride" he smiled at Damon who didn't need to be told twice, he grabbed Bonnie in the blink of an eye and his lips hit hers with an hunger that consumed him life a wild fire raging through a forest and dipping her he swallowed down the pain in his chest and lost himself in her completely.

"I now pronounce you man and wife" the minister laughed again when it didn't look like they were ever going to come back up for air.

Both Stefan and Elena burst out laughing and Alba started to cough and breaking apart they both looked at the four of them standing behind them and turning back to face each other they laughed lightly before falling into another deep kiss.

"I love you beyond any great imagination" Damon whispered to her, his mouth hitting her neck with a soft kiss.

"I love you" she said with a vaguer that stole his breath away and he kissed her again.

"That part is over now, guys" Stefan said before coughing again and together they waved their hands at him to silence him.

The food had been amazing and she looked at him in awe that he had been able to pull it all off in so little time. The music started up and taking her hand into his, leading her back to the spot in front of the tree house where they had become man and wife. Wrapping his arms around her he pulled her into him, their bodies moving together and with each rising melody they both fell deeper in love with the other.

"Tonight has been the most magical moment of my life" she breathed into his chest, a tear rolling down her face in her happiness.

"My body is aching for you Bonbon" he chuckled lightly into the nape of her neck. "With a love so potent that I fear it killing me" he suddenly had a thought that wouldn't let go of him no matter how he tried to dislodge it from his head. "Bonnie I don't ever want to live without you" he whispered into the side of her face while they danced. "I can't live without you" he pulled back a little and looked back down into her loving gaze. "I would tear the whole world apart"

"I don't want to live without you" she closed her eyes, the fear that she will one day die and leave him alone frightened her more than anything ever would again.

Damon pulled her back into his arms, his body swaying with hers. He tried not to think of her dying one day, but his mind wouldn't let him escape that even for a second. He made a move to pick her up and twirl her, but he doubled over when the pain in his chest got too much for him.

"Damon" she cried out when he dropped to his knees, fighting to breathe, the front of his shirt completely drenched in his own blood. "Stefan" she called out as he ran towards them, dropping to his knees. "Help him"

"Damon are you not healing?" he asked him, concern radiating from him to stab into Bonnie's heart and she fell back into Elena's arms when they wrapped around her.

"I" Damon said before he passed out.

Stefan tore open his brother's shirt and saw the blood soaked bandages wrapped around his chest. "Knife" he yelled out and taking the cake knife that someone had handed to him, he cut off the bandages and saw the gaping hole still in his brother's chest. "You idiot" he cursed under his breath.

"Why isn't he healing" Elena asked him as Bonnie stared down at Damon lying there still on the floor and it didn't look like he was breathing, her heart came to an abrupt standstill.

"I don't know" Stefan turned and looked with dour eyes up at them both. "But I am sure as hell going to find out" scooping Damon up into his arms he headed back towards the house and found that he couldn't enter.

"Someone is trying to keep us out of the house" Alba said, trying to wrack his brains as to who would do that.

"Hey there" they all looked up at the second story window and saw a pale man with bright red hair grinning down at them all. "Looks like he is dying to me" he boomed with a deeper laugh than his slight body would look to give. "And you don't have very long by the looks of him"

"Caleb" Carnina gasped, clutching at Alba's arm.

"Ah, the ever beautiful Carnina" he grinned down at her with a smile that sickened Bonnie to her core she turned and looked at Carnina clutching at Alba's arm. "Look where marrying him got you. You got very old didn't you?"

"You had what you wanted" Alba said with a force that surprised Bonnie. "I gave you all that I had. There is nothing else here for you"

Caleb shook his head, looking down at him with a pity that would have driven Damon past the brink of insane if he had saw it. "You have more that I want and I have bided my time until you were weak enough for me to take it more" he stopped and pretended to think about it. "Easily"

"What do you want from us?" Carnina said in a whisper, clutching even more tightly onto Alba's arm.

"The rest of his magic" he said with a gleam in his eyes, the love he felt for Carnina still evident in the gaze he laid upon her and she sifted uncomfortably.

"I gave you every ounce of it that day you tried to kill my wife" Alba barked up at him and Caleb shook his head. "I gave it all to you"

"No" Caleb said in a tone that came out flat and dull, his eyes never once leaving Carnina. "No, you didn't" he leant on the outside windowsill, looking at Alba now. "I know you only gave me a fraction of it and you put the rest somewhere safe" his eyes started to glow and Elena gasped next to Bonnie. "You put it somewhere were you thought I would never think to look didn't you" he laughed that deep booming cackle again. "Didn't you and if you don't give it to me then I will simply come down there and take if from you and kill you all in one swift little blow" he stood up and raised his hand and picked up the car and threw it several feet down the garden, knocking over a few rose bushes and Bonnie was glad that Damon didn't see that. "So, Alba, do I have to kill you and your family here?" Stefan dropped to his knees and Damon rolled painfully onto his back, the wound in his chest still spilling out his life force all over the place. "I will start with the second vampire shall I" Stefan started to scream out, blood seeping through his fingers. "I will explode his brain so that he will never be able to come back from it ever again"

Alba turned to Carnina and grabbed her head and started to speak quickly, too fast even for Stefan to hear and like lighting he looked back up at the house and spoke under his breath and Caleb grinned down at him before he vanished from the window.

"Tree house" Alba told them all as he grabbed Carnina's hand and watched Stefan picking up Damon in his arms and they all made a run for it to the safety of the tree house.

"Who was that" Bonnie asked from Damon's side, her eyes never leaving his sallow grey face.

"My uncle" Alba told them as he sat down exhausted on one of the window seats.

"I know you are there" they all heard his voice outside and Elena clung on to Stefan.

"I have us cloaked for now, but I have no idea how long it will be before he figures out a way to break the spell" he seemed to sag a little more. "I don't know how long he has left"

Stefan looked down at his brother, worry etched on his pale face. He had no idea why Damon wasn't healing and it scared him that he still wasn't waking up. He had never seen Damon so ill before and he had no idea if it was down to the vervain mixed with something they didn't know about or if Caleb had anything to do with it. But he did know one thing and that was he was scared, scared for his brother's life.

"Isn't there anything you can do for him?" Elena asked and Bonnie's eyes left Damon's face for a few seconds as she sat there in her wedding dress clutching his hand to her heart, willing him to wake up with every beat it made.

"I'm afraid he is under a spell and I don't know which to try and break it" Alba admitted, hating seeing Damon so void of life, he felt Carnina hold his hand. "I wish I knew" he shook his head, closing his eyes. "I really do"

"Maybe we can put our magic together to break it" Bonnie frowned up at him from the floor, not wanting to look at Damon any more, it was breaking her heart too much and she couldn't bear it anymore.

"What about the black roses growing at the bottom of the garden" Carnina said suddenly getting to her feet.

"I think those might have been destroyed when Caleb blew the car into them" he shook his head, hating his uncle even more now than he did all those years ago.

"Well we can only try" Stefan got to his feet, heading for the door. "I can't just sit here and watch my brother die. I have to do something to help him"

"You can't" Carnina got unsteadily to her feet, grabbing his arm. "You are going to need magic to take them from the bush. They are special roses with healing abilities, but they are resistant to danger"

"Then come with me" Stefan told Alba who slowly shook his head. "I am too weak from the cloaking spell"

"You have your magic back" Stefan frowned at them all, not knowing what to do now that plan had been foiled before it had even taken off.

"I am eighty four years old Stefan and I am dying and my magic is not half what it used to be and out there in the open I will only prove to put you in further danger. I am sorry, Stefan, but I cannot risk any more of you being hurt or worse by my weakened hands and I can't"

"I will go with you" Bonnie interjected, kissing Damon on the forehead she got to her feet and turned to Elena. "Take care of him" she grabbed Damon's jacket from off the window seat from where he had left it the night before. "Let's do this before I change my mind" she slipped into Damon's jacket, feeling it wrap around her and his scent on it made her feel as if he was right there with her, with his arms around her.

Stefan watched her kicking off her shoes and walk straight out of the door and with one last look down at Damon he followed her outside into the cool night air. He had to run down the spiral steps to catch her up.

"Bonnie" he called out in a whisper from behind her. "Hold up"

She stopped and waited for him to catch her up and the second he did she spun on her feet and slapped him with everything she had across his face. "Why did you take him there" she cried out, her pain at seeing Damon dying turning to anger and she wanted to tear Stefan's face off. "Why did you take him there to his death" she hit at him, her fists pummelling his chest and he let her get it all out of her system. "He is dying and there isn't anything that I can do to help him" she sunk to her knees and with her face buried in her hands she sobbed.

He knelt down in front of her and waited for the tears to subside before he put his hand on her shoulder and moving her hands from her face she looked up into his eyes. "Bonnie there wasn't anything that I could have done to stop him from going to rescue you and if giving himself up to those goons was the only way to keep you safe, then he would always do it"

She nodded, tears still falling down her face and wrapping her arms around herself she pulled his jacket tightly around her and closing her eyes she breathed him in. Another stabbing pain hit her heart and she thought she was going to pass out from the agony of it. She needed to help Damon and she was never going to be able to do it if she was going to sit there and cry. Even if it meant she had to face Caleb alone, face to face to get him back, then she would. She knew she would do anything to save Damon. Like he would and did with her.

"Let's go and find a black rose to save my brother and your husband" Stefan smiled at her as he helped her back to her feet. "And it is weird calling him your husband" he gave a hearty chuckle that made her smile back at him despite the pain she was constantly feeling without Damon. "You really do love my brother, don't you" he asked her.

"More than my own life" she whispered to him walking at his side down to the rose garden and both stopped when they had the shock of their lives.

The whole entire garden had been torn up by Caleb when he had thrown that car and stepping over the last of his Nona's rose bushes he took her hand and helped her climb over a fallen tree. He looked down at her when she jumped down on the other side and thought with an inner grin "this is my sister in law"

They walked for what Bonnie had thought was miles when Stefan suddenly cried out and started to point a little way into the trees. "I see the bush" he ran towards the bush and stopped in front of it and waited for Bonnie to catch up.

"Wow" was all she could say as she stood there looking at the upturned rose bush with its tiny black rose buds all over it and dropping to her knees she pulled off a few and shoved them into the inner pocket of Damon's jacket to keep them safe. "Let's head back" she got back to her feet and turning she came face to face with Caleb his bright red hair seemed to light up the darkest parts of the garden and his green eyes seemed to glow with a fire that frightened her and turning she found Stefan down on his knees clutching at his throat.

"Bonnie" he manged to get out between struggling to breathe. "Run"

She shook her head, there was no way that she was going to run and lifting up her hands she opened her mouth to speak, then everything went black.

"My god" Carnina leapt to her feet followed by Elena when Stefan ran into the tree house with her lying lifeless in his arms and gently he laid her down next to Damon, sinking to his knees.

"What happened" Elena cried out, fear clutching at her chest.

"He broke her neck" was all he could say as he looked down at the still figures of his brother and Bonnie lying on the floor, tears framing his eyelashes darker and he grabbed his hair, wanting to tear it out. "He came out of nowhere and took me out and then" he found it hard to breathe suddenly and Elena was at his side, rubbing at his back, tears flowing down her face. "And then he, he broke her neck" he started to cry, his anger over taking him and his fangs came through abruptly. "He killed her and Damon will never forgive me for letting her die like that" Elena pulled him into her and they both sat there on the floor crying. "He killed her, Elena. And when Damon wakes up he is going to blame me. I blame me. I should be blamed. It was my entire fault"

Elena was sat there next to Bonnie holding her hand, a steady flow of tears running down her face. She lost someone else that she loved and she didn't know if her heartache was ever going to end from another fatal blow. She looked across at Stefan with his face in his hands, his shoulders hunched defeated. She couldn't take it anymore. And at that point she really wished that she had died when Kai put the sleeping beauty spell on her. Closing her eyes she took a deep breath. Contemplating what they're next move could be to stop Caleb. But she had nothing.

She leapt to her feet when Bonnie abruptly sat up and letting go of her hand she stared at her best friend staring wide eyed and panting.

Bonnie hurt all over and she found it hard to breathe. She remembered going to get some magical roses to help Damon and then. "He broke my neck" she gasped her hand reaching for her neck, rubbing at it and it felt like it was about to fall from her shoulders. "Caleb" she turned to Stefan, eyes still wide. "He killed me"

Stefan was sat there frozen in shock. Her had thought that his blood had left her system and shaking his head he looked across at Elena sitting the other side of Bonnie, but she was staring at Bonnie in shock herself.

Bonnie leapt to her feet before falling back onto the window seat, resting her face against the cool glass when she suddenly started to feel too hot. "Am I going to be a vampire?" she looked down at Damon still lying there on the floor, tears pricking at her eyes. "I can't be a vampire" her bottom lip started to wobble and for the first time in a long time she started to feel weak again and she hated the feeling more than the throbbing pain that seemed to be her whole body now and feeling colder she huddled inside Damon's jacket and she closed her eyes, feeling his arms around her again and she felt a little better. But opening her eyes and seeing him on the floor took that little comfort away and she felt sick to her stomach.

"I can't be" she cried out, her eyes full of tears and biting her lip she willed them back in, she felt weak enough.

"You are in transition" Stefan flew to her side and sat down, looking at her gently. "You are going to need"

"I know what it takes to become a vampire" Bonnie interjected, feeling annoyed with him for what had happened to her, even though deep down she knew that it wasn't his fault. "I have seen enough of my friends become them over the years. So I know what happens, Stefan" she got to her feet and stood there in the middle of the room, her hands on her face.

"You just need to feed" Elena said pulling her hands away from her face. "You will be ok, Bon, I promise"

"I can't become a vampire" Bonnie turned, gazing out of the window at the rising sun. "I can't. I'm a witch and I love being a witch. It is who I am. Who I was meant to be, who I was born to be and nothing was supposed to change that. I can't be a vampire, Elena" she looked down at Damon still lying on the floor, covered in his own blood, unmoving and her heart fell out of her head. "I'm sorry" she whispered to him, dropping to her knees. "I know this isn't what you wanted for me. But now I have no other choice but to become the one thing I dreaded the most. But I can't lose you" she bent forward and kissed him on the top of his warm dark head. "I can't leave you" she whispered into the side of his face, stroking his clammy cheek. "I love you" she closed her eyes, leaning her face against his and taking a deep breath she got back to her feet and removed Damon's jacket and taking out the black rose buds she handed them over to Alba. "Ok" was all she said.

"Bonnie I am so sorry" Stefan said from behind her, putting his hand on her back and she turned around to face him.

"I'm not doing this for me" she glanced back down at him lying on the floor. "'I'm doing this for him"

"Feed from me" Elena smiled fondly at her, moving to stand in front of Bonnie.

"No" Alba leapt to his feet. "Feed from me"

They all looked at the old man standing there on shaking feet, the magic he had pulled to save them all had surely taking its toll and he would never be strong enough for Bonnie to feed on him.

Bonnie shook her head. "I can't put you in any more danger, not after everything that you have already done for us"

"Bonnie I'm an old man with terminal cancer. I'm dying. And I want to give my magic to you as a gift to save my friend. You will fed from me to finish your transformation and while you drain me dry I will give you my magic in the hopes that it will absorb into your new vampire body" Alba was clutching both her hands in his. "Bonnie I can see that you have the inner strength of a tiger and nothing is going to stand in your way to save them all"

She looked from Alba to his wife Carnina who was now standing just behind him with the black rose buds in her frail hand. "He is telling you the truth. He has six months left to live and he would rather die fighting for those he loves than riddled in pain, helpless, in his own bed"

"Help Damon, Bella" he smiled at his wife who went and knelt at Damon's side, pushing his torn shirt

Aside.

"But it would be a total waste of your magic" Bonnie looked back at him, her heart feeling like it was about to explode along with her mind now. "Why don't you give it to Elena?"

Alba shook his head. "Elena would never be able to keep it. The magic would just evaporate from her human body"

"But Carnina" Stefan frowned at him, confused.

"She didn't know it was there, I had hidden it from her" Alba sat back down on the window seat again, patting the side for Bonnie and she sat, watching Carnina feeding an unmoving Damon petals from the buds. "Bonnie, you are a witch by birth and your body stores your own magic. By becoming a vampire your body will over throw that, but" she turned and looked at him, a frown creasing her nose. "If you feed from me to finish your transformation while I feed my magic into you, there is a greater chance of you keeping it, of it sticking to your vampire side. I want you to have my magic, because I believe that you are the only one that can stop Caleb for good"

Bonnie didn't know what to say, she didn't believe that her becoming a vampire would also leave her part witch. Kind of like a hybrid. But she had no other choice to accept it. She had to save her friends and her husband.

"Ok" she said, looking back down at Damon. "But what is going to happen to him. Don't you need to cast a spell to bring him back first?" she was really worried that when Alba gave her his magic, she would be useless in bringing him back and it would all have been for nothing.

"Once he has eaten the petals it will then be all up to him to fight his way back from whatever spell that my uncle put upon him"

Bonnie watched Stefan crouch at Damon's side and take the small flip knife from his pants pocket and hand it to Alba who drew it across his wrist and closing her eyes to not see what she was about to do, she drank from him, feeling the blood rushing into her mouth and his magic into her whole being.

Damon now trapped inside the darkness of his own mind and he could hear everything that went on around him and it broke his heart to hear his own brother verbalise his worst fear, that Bonnie was dead. And each new time he heard those words they would never get any easier for him to hear to even begin to handle.

He felt like he was floating in an endless nothingness. But he didn't care where he was. His mind was breaking down on him along with his heart crushing in his chest. The pain was the worst he had ever experienced in his whole existence. He tried to cry out, but nothing would come to the surface and so it continued to eat away at his very soul. He was left hanging in the balance between life and death and he knew that he would never be able to hold her in his arms again, or kiss her soft sweet lips. He couldn't even kiss her goodbye. That tore at his very being and all he wanted to do at that moment was to tear out his own semi beating heart and all he could do was float there in the dark, wherever he was.

"Bonnie" he said to himself, his heart tearing at him with that one single word that he had spoken a million times, but this time it felt like a red hot poker burning right through his heart.

He tried to find the words to scream out, but there was nothing, his pain was too much for him to bear and he begged death to hurry up and take him. He would never be able to live in world without her. The last time had almost destroyed him. But this time he knew that he wouldn't be able to breathe without her. Anger started to ripple through like a hurricane, but that slowly died down again when an image of her walking towards him that morning brought him an endless foreboding distress.

"I love you" he heard her voice floating to him from both somewhere and nowhere and he tried to move to find the location of it, but he didn't even have a body anymore and his anger rippled through him once again.

He felt something there with him even darker than the emptiness he seemed to be floating within. He felt its power and it both annoyed and frightened him. He could feel its need to take his soul as its own and he fought to get away from it. But each time he felt himself floating away from it, whatever it was, he felt it dragging him back in its hold and the more he fought the closer to it he became.

He knew that he would never give up his own life until he said his goodbyes to Bonnie, then he would take off his daylight ring and sit at sunset, ready to join her in the afterlife. It was driving him beyond mad and then it drove him insane to hear that Bonnie was now going to become the one thing he had never wanted for her, a vampire. He hated Stefan for allowing this to happen. But most of all he hated himself for lying there useless and not being able to do the one thing he had always promised her he would do, protect her. When he was able to wake up he was going to make Caleb wish that he had never been born. He tried to fight the darkness that flowed all around him. But each time he tried to wake up he felt it pushing him further back into it. He growled in anger. His whole body was flaring with it now and he fought like he had never fought before. Bonnie needed him and he was never going to stop fighting his way back to her.

"I'm going to come back to you, Bonbon" he said to himself as he floated in the darkness with the beast still behind him, trying to claw at him to devour his very soul. "Don't give up on me" he begged her, hoping that she would feel a spark within him to say that he was still there, that he was trapped within his own darkness.

"It's not working" he heard Alba say form a great distance away as the beast of his own mind dragged him closer towards it and he gave it everything that he had to fight his way back to her, she needed him more than ever now.

But it was no good, the beast caught a hold of him and he felt himself being dragged faster and faster, his whole soul felt like it was being torn from his body and then slowly his thoughts started to fade away from him. He couldn't think and he desperately brought forward an image of her smiling up at him to his mind and he kept it there while everything started to harden around him while he himself started to soften and fray and tear at the edges of his mind and he knew that he was dying.

"I love you, Bon" was the last thing he thought and then he was engulfed within the beast.

Closing her eyes she fell back against the window feeling her fangs breaking through her gums a little painfully. She could feel every single vine in her face swell and throb with a hunger that she had never felt before and she had to admit that it made her feel things that she would never had known existed. Opening her eyes she looked across at Stefan and he gave her a little smile, she glanced at Elena on the floor next to Damon and watched her climbing to her feet to stand next to Stefan and she cocked her head to the side and stared at the vein throbbing at the side of her neck and rising slowly to her feet she made her way across the room, her hand reaching out she started to stroke Elena's neck. Dying to know what she would taste like, her fangs itched painfully at her to test it out.

"Damon" she heard Carnina gasp out loud and turning around so quick she almost toppled over when the room moved too fast for her to keep up with and that was the moment when she knew there was never any going back for her again.

"Damon" she cried out, her heart leaping into her mouth when she saw him slowly starting to desiccate before her very eyes and it shocked her how clear her vison was now. "What is happening" she dropped to her knees at his side, holding onto his face, leaning over him. "Don't leave me" she begged him through a torrent of tears. "Damon, don't you dare leave me" she sobbed, clutching at him. "You promised me that you would never leave me"

"I'm sorry" she looked up into Alba's sad eyes and shaking her head she started to back away from them all staring down at her.

"No" she mumbled, trying to make sense of what was happening around her, everything become too quiet and she wanted to scream but she couldn't remember how.

"It was too late" Alba came a little nearer to her, reaching out to touch her leg, but she shook her head, screaming inside but couldn't quite figure out a way to let it out.

"No. No. no" she kept repeating over and over again, each time she spoke it hit her in the heart like a knife.

She heard Stefan cry out and looking up at him she saw him nestled in Elena's arms, his body shaking with each bone crushing tear that left him and that was when it hit home that Damon was dead. Her hands grabbed onto her hair and she yanked it, reality quickly taken over and she wanted to run away and never stop. She looked over at Damon lying on his back and quickly she crawled over to him and pulled his head up onto her lap, her tears burst through and flowed down onto his face.

"I can see you" they all heard, but Bonnie ignored him, clutching Damon to her chest, her heart felt like it was now on fire and she begged it to destroy her along with it. "Hello little piggy's"

"He has broken through the spell" she heard Alba say, sounding like a whisper from miles away to her, as if it were now floating to her on a light breeze and she clung onto Damon a little more.

"I will huff and I will puff until I blow your little house down" Caleb came through on a breeze and she continued to block them all out.

"What is he doing?" someone asked, and by now she didn't care who it was that had spoken or what was going to happen to them all.

"He is going to destroy the tree house and kill us all" came a frantic reply. "Bonnie you are going to need to pull yourself together and help us get out of here"

She clung onto Damon a little more tightly, not wanting to let him go. She no longer cared about anything or anyone anymore. She just wanted it all to hurry up and be over so that she could be with Damon again.

"Bonnie" Stefan was now at her side, trying to break through the wall she had built up around her and Damon. "We are going to need to you remain strong right now and fight with us" she shook her head at him. "We need you" he tried again, and again she shook her head. "Bonnie we need you. We need to find a way to get out of here"

She lifted her head and looked up into his green eyes that looked almost olive in his grief. "Ok" she said, knowing somewhere deep inside her shattered soul that Damon would want her to keep on fighting no matter what happened.

Stefan took her hand and helped her back to her feet and she looked from Damon back to him in question. "We'll come back for him" he promised her and she nodded sombrely.

Bonnie dropped back down onto her knees and hugged his still body to hers and whispered something in his ear too low even for Stefan to hear and kissing his cheek she stood back up and wiped her tears away and turning towards the others she walked out the front door and made her way to the other side of the garden and turning back to face the tree house she saw the whole thing collapse and she fall forwards, her whole body crumbling on her, only to be caught by Stefan before she hit the ground.

"Damon" she cried out before Stefan's hand covered her mouth and she felt him dragging her backwards towards the house while she kicked and fought her way back to Damon, she had to get him out of there. "I can't leave him" she fought him like a rabid beast, but he still refused to let her go.

"He is gone" Stefan yelled at her after closing the back door and she heard someone lock it, but she couldn't tear her glare away from his devastated face. "Damon isn't coming back" he told her, a little gentler this time and she fell to the floor, her cries the only thing above her heart beating out of control she could hear.

Elena was sitting next to her and she felt her body being hugged and then Stefan was in front of her talking to her, but she could only see his lips moving.

"I'll kill him" she screamed out, breaking free of Elena and trying to make a break for it back to the tree house. "I'm going to tear him limb from limb"

Stefan was in her way and she couldn't get around him to leave. She made a move to attack him but he was a lot quicker than her, and she couldn't move like she wanted to still in her wedding dress, when she watched him reaching out and breaking her neck, she sagged into his arms.

"I'm sorry" he whispered to her as she fell into complete darkness.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

"I love you" she smiled at him standing in front of her, his arms pulling her into him and she had never felt so loved or safe in his arms.

"I love you" he whispered into the nape of her neck. "And I will never stop loving you or wanting to be with you"

She started to cry against him, his arms tightening around her, holding her until she was spent. He lifted her face up to his, a bright smile lighting up his gaze but she could still see his own pain hiding behind his pale blue eyes.

"Bonnie, you are my whole life, my heart and no matter what happens I will never be too far away from your side" he lifted her up and swung her around before putting her slowly back onto her feet again, the music from their wedding song came floating to her from a distance and smiling she buried her face in to his chest while they danced under the tree house. "Remember I will never truly leave you" she heard him calling out when she was tugged out of his arms.

Bonnie opened her eyes and looked up at the ceiling, a throbbing pain in her head and sitting up she found herself barricaded in the den with them all sitting around her.

"Thank god" Carnina cried out happily with Alba's head in her lap as she sat on the floor in front of the fire. "You are awake"

She looked around and her eyes widened in shock, the whole room looked like a tornado had flown right through it. The furniture was knocked over. Debris from the torn ceiling lying on almost every piece of furniture and she had no idea how she had missed it before. She looked at Stefan sitting back against a chair, blood on his white shirt with Elena feeding him a blood bag, at his side.

"What happened" she spoke low, still in shock at the ravaged sight before her.

Stefan pulled himself away from Elena and looked over at her as she slowly got to her feet. "Caleb made his attack whilst you were out" he got to his feet and followed her eyes around the room. "He" he glanced down at the two figures down on the floor in front of the fire. "Killed Alba and staked me"

Bonnie looked at Stefan's chest and saw that the stake had gone through his heart and she frowned looking up at him.

"Luckily he missed" Elena was on her feet at Stefan's side, holding onto his elbow. "Bonnie it was horrible"

Bonnie could see that she had been crying, but she didn't know if her tears had been for Damon or Stefan, or even if they had been for them both. Slowly she sat down next to Carnina and looked down at Alba's grey face, a few tears leaking her vision, turning it blurry.

"I'm so sorry" she choked on her words, her hand on Alba's forehead, stroking back his white hair.

"It wasn't your fault" Carnina told her, a pain in her eyes as she turned them on her. "It was the way he would have wanted to go"

Bonnie sat there and looked in at the ashes in the fireplace, the fire that her and Damon had lit the night before now long gone. Her heart tugged at her throat when she thought of him. She couldn't stop picturing him lying underneath the torn down tree house, she tried to stop for her own sanity, but she couldn't help herself. Her tears started to flow and she wanted nothing more at that moment in time than to go and dig him out and hold onto him until Caleb came and killed them all. But she also knew that she owed it to Damon to fight.

"I will fix this" she promised them all, taking Carnina's hand into her own, her eyes never straying from the burnt ashes. "Then I will join you" she sent on a prayer to Damon, hoping against all the odds that he would be able to hear her now that he was gone.

"What now" Elena asked her from behind her.

Bonnie looked up into the smudged face of her best friend and smirked at her. "We go find Caleb and we kill him" she let Carnina's hand go and jumped to her feet. "Let's go" she walked out of the house, tearing the bottom of her wedding dress off in preparation for the fight.

"I didn't even know you cared" came a voice and they all turned and saw him standing there in front of them in the doorway. "But I thought that I would save you the trouble of searching for me" he sauntered into the room, angering both Bonnie and Stefan. "After all" he looked into Bonnie's face with a sneer. "You have something of mine and I want it back"

There was nothing that comforted him now that he had been taken into the darkness completely. He didn't know anything anymore. He had no idea who he was. If he was. He tried to think, but everything was blank and void of anything. Was he even a he or was he simply a thing.

He felt something stuck at the middle of him. But he had no idea what it was. There was something throbbing right at his centre and he clung onto it, no matter how much pain it brought to him.

Suddenly he remembered that he was something. He was a man. No, he was more than a man. He was. And that was when he hit a blank wall again. Floating there in the dark he let that thought slip away from him. There was something that he needed to be doing. Somewhere he needed to be. And no matter how hard he tried to remember, it kept floating away from him whenever he manged to pull up a glimmer of it.

There is someone waiting for me. But who and why? He was starting to give up all hope of ever remembering anything. He closed his eyes; it was no point in them being open as he couldn't see anything in front of him. The darkness was dense and it constantly pressed down on him, suffocating him.

A scream came from nowhere and a name hit his lips. "Bonnie" he heard the sound inside his head and then a face came to him of a pretty smiling girl with coffee coloured skin and mesmerising green eyes. "Bonnie" he whispered aloud and he heard it with his own ears that time and a second scream hit his ears and he cried out from the force of it shattering his very being and he knew that she needed him.

He fought with every ounce of his being. He had never felt pain like it before. He knew that he was dead and trapped inside his own hell. He stopped struggling to move, it was futile, and he wasn't even getting anywhere. Turing his head from side to side he saw a pin prick of light and he was hit by a thought of being able to get out and get back to her. She needed him and he wasn't about to let her down again.

Fighting the darkness pressing down on him he moved a little, sweat starting to pour down his face into his eyes blinding him. But he still struggled to move towards the light that would lead him back to her. He could still hear her screams floating to him in the dark and gritting his teeth together, he manged to turn his whole body towards the pin prick of light. A pain rippling through his entire body like an inferno. He reached out and grabbed onto something solid and he soon realised that it was a tunnel of some kind and he pulled himself inside. The inside was coated with a slimy substance and he knew that there was no way he was about to let himself lose his only grip and fall out and fail her a second time.

Pulling himself along on his stomach he dug his nails in through the slime and into the floor of the tunnel, tearing at the skin around his fingers and it burnt where he was now bleeding. It felt like he was dipping his hands into vervain. The pain got too strong and he cried out and almost lost his hand hold, but he clung on for dear life and dragged himself further into the tunnel.

A string gust of wind appeared out of nowhere and blew him back out of the tunnel and if he hadn't punched through the floor of the tunnel and grabbed on tightly underneath it, the he would have been blown back out. But he bit his lip and carried on moving forward, each time he pulled himself along he punched his hand through the floor of the tunnel and grabbed a hold and pulled himself a little further inside. He felt the bones shatter in his left hand when he was halfway through and he stopped and screamed out when the slime got inside the torn skin and he knew that he was exposing bone now even though he couldn't see anything but an endless darkness that encased him. Taking a deeper breath he pulled himself further along, punching and pulling his way as he moved slowly towards the light that was now starring to fill the tunnel, blinding him even more than the darkness ever could.

Damon cursed out loud when he felt his right wrist break with the pressure of his punch through the floor, but he took a deeper breath and gritting his teeth he continued to fight his way to the end with his eyes closed. He wasn't about to give her up for anything. No matter the pain he was in threating to make him stop, he would never stop fighting for her and she needed him. He heard another scream and he started to move faster, the pain sending red hot tears to his eyes that flowed down his face, but still he would never stop.

He suddenly felt like he was falling and he yelled out in frustration over all that work leading to nothing. He was doomed to spend an eternity in the dark fighting his way back to her and she was in trouble and there was nothing that he could do to help her.

"I'm so" he started to say through his sobs, the rest of his words falling away silently when he hit something rock solid and opening his eyes he winched when a pain hit his chest and opening his eyes he found himself once again completely covered in darkness.

He cursed out loud, the sound ringing around his head and something was pressing heavily upon his chest and he lay back closing his eyes, finally admitting defeat. He was hurting all over and something sharp was sticking into his left side. His opened his eyes and saw bright sunny skies through a crack. He hit out with both hands and lifted his legs and kicked at whatever was lying on top of him and taking a deep breathe he looked up into the sky. He was back he smiled to himself as he pulled himself up onto his feet slowly and looked around at the torn down tree house and cursed again.

Damon walked over the huge pile of debris, his body healing quickly and he tugged out a piece of wood from his side and jumped down onto the grass. He didn't know where to start looking and then I hit him like a knife to the gut when he heard Bonnie yelling at someone and he started running towards the sound of her voice.

Damon ran into the thicket and fought his way through into a little clearing and saw Bonnie sitting on the floor with her back to a base of a huge tree that he couldn't remember the name of. A guy with blazing red hair standing in front of her. He stood there and watched him, listening to what he was saying to her and he bided his time to make his move.

Bonnie was sitting with her back to a tree, her fear over taking her while Caleb stood menacingly in front of her with a stake in his hands. "Can't the littlest vampire make any magic to save herself" he mocked her, the stake inching towards her frozen body and no matter how much she fought, his spell pinned her to the tree unmoving. "Such a waste"

The stake touched her chest and he grinned down at her, digging it in a little and she screamed out from the pain that tore through her.

She looked up at him, unable to tear her own eyes away and then he had been flung like a rag doll. "You don't touch her" she heard a growl and her heart kicked started and she gazed up into blue eyes. "Didn't think that death could keep me away from you, did you" he grinned at her before holding out his hand and pulling her back to her feet.

"You tore out his heart?" she gasped at the bloodied heart in his left hand and he nodded.

"No one tries to kill my wife without ending their own first" he dropped the heart and scooped her up in his arms, squeezing her tightly. "God I missed you"

She broke down in his arms. "I thought you were gone" he stroked her hair while she cried and he couldn't stop himself from breaking down with her, shaking his head he whispered something to her that neither one of them would ever be able to understand to know what he had said to her.

Looking around at the garden he frowned at the war torn mess. "Where is Stefan and the other's" he asked Bonnie.

Bonnie quickly looked around the garden and then she saw him walking towards them both with a grave look on his face. "Where are Elena and Carnina?"

Stefan shook his head and handed over a scrap of paper that he told them had been pinned to his chest when he woke up in the bathroom.

Damon read the badly scribbled note. "I have taken the girl and the old lady to the abandoned house on pine and Gillard. You have three hours to find them before I send them both to hell, starting with the girl" Damon scowled down at the note. "It is from Josiah"

"Where is pine and Gillard?" Bonnie looked up at him, wearing the same frown that he was.

"It is on the other side of town" Stefan told her, looking at his brother. "Do you think that we can make it in time on foot?"

Damon sat down on a fallen tree shaking his head. "Is the garage still intact" Stefan nodded and Damon smiled at him. "Then we take my second baby out for a little spin"

"You have your own car?" Bonnie asked, confused by them not having used it since they had got there.

He grinned down at her as she sat down next to him. "Want to see her?" she nodded and they all headed around to the garage and Damon tugged open the door and Stefan's face fell at the sight of it.

Damon pulled off the cover and folded it up neatly and threw it onto a shelf and turning he grinned into two shocked and awed faces.

"You have a vintage Alfa Romeo spider duetto?" Stefan couldn't take his eyes off the electric blue care standing in front of them.

"Isn't she a beauty?" Damon asked as he ran his hand down the slight curve of the hood, his eyes raking her over.

"She is incredible" Bonnie didn't know what else to say, she didn't know much about cars. But she did know one thing, that this care was even better than his Camaro. "Why haven't we used it?"

Damon wiped at his face with his hand. "I didn't know if it would start" reaching into a drawer he pulled out a set of keys and tossed them to his brother. "Start her up"

Stefan didn't need telling twice and he flew into the driver's seat and turned the key, nothing. Damon scowled at the car in annoyance. Then Stefan turned it again and it roared to life and Damon's face lit up.

"I knew my baby wouldn't let me down" he opened the door and climbed into the passenger side and patted his lap. "There are only two seats and so you will need to sit on my lap"

"Is that the reason why I am allowed to drive" Stefan asked Damon who leant over and pulled the door closed.

"Of course it isn't brother" Damon's tone dripped sarcastically and he gave him a throaty chuckle. "But you are driving, so let's put feet to pedal and hit that street" he tapped the dashboard and Stefan drove out of the garage and onto the driveway before hammering it down on to the street and took the turn at the bottom of the driveway at break neck speed.

"How long do we have left?" Stefan asked him as he took another death defying turn and they went up on two wheels.

"What do I look like" Damon asked him seriously. "A psychic" he looked at Bonnie sitting on his lap and shook his head, his arms tightening around her middle to hold onto her tightly, he didn't care how quickly she would heal now, he was not letting her shoot out the windshield.

"Take the next right" Damon yelled at his brother just before they shot past it. "I said right not carry on through" Damon spat at him through gritted teeth.

"How about you tell me before we are passing the turning" Stefan hissed back as he spun the car around in a three sixty. "It would help"

"I didn't think I needed too" Damon's arm tightened around Bonnie and held her still on his lap, his other hand flat against the roof to stop himself from falling into Stefan's lap. "You drive like Miss Daisy"

Stefan put his foot down and Bonnie closed her eyes, feeling sick from the speed. "Just give me fair warning next time" he spun the car around and flew into the right turning and Damon laughed.

"A few feet down here you need to" Damon threw himself back into the seat and pulled Bonnie towards him when Stefan slammed his foot on the breaks and they stopped suddenly.

"We are here" he turned and smiled at them both and grabbing the door handle Bonnie leapt from the car and threw up on the grass verge.

"I am never" she said trying to breathe again. "Ever getting into a car with you both together"

Damon flew out of the car and laughing he pulled her into his chest and kissed the top of her head. "You are lucky then I wasn't driving" he chucked her under the chin softly. "I drive like a real person"

"No" she said shaking her head. "I drive like a real person and you" she threw at Stefan. "Drive like a manic and you" she looked up at Damon standing there with his hands in his belt loop looking at her with innocent eyes and he looked at her in question when she failed to find an answer. "I will let you know when I think of something" she scowled at him and headed down the long driveway that lead to the big house.

Walking across the over grown lawn Damon glanced across at Bonnie walking at his side and taking her hand into his. "Did Alba make you a daylight ring?"

Stefan's face fell in shock. "She doesn't have one" he stared past Damon at Bonnie who was walking through the sunshine perfectly fine. "How come?"

Bonnie shook her head, having no idea why. She hadn't even thought about it with them all fighting to survive. She looked up at Damon and shrugged her shoulders.

"Shrugger doesn't need one" Damon's heart felt lighter now, she wasn't a vampire and he hadn't heard anything so good in years.

"How come?" Stefan asked again.

"Maybe because she isn't even a vampire" Damon slipped his arm around her shoulder, stepping over a broken garden ornament.

"Oh, she is a vampire alright" Stefan retorted and Damon's head snapped back to look at him. "I watched her die then I saw her come back from the dead and feed on Alba and transition. She is a vampire"

It was Damon's turn to become confused now. "I don't understand" he stopped walking just short of the house, scratching his head.

"Maybe it is the magic you have flowing inside you still" Stefan replied, trying to get his own head around it.

"Maybe" she replied, shielding her eyes from the sun as she gazed upon the huge abandoned house.

"Wait, what" Damon looked from on to the other, wanting an explanation.

"It is a long story" Bonnie told him, shaking her head and suppressing a giggle from the look he was giving her. "But I have tried and tried and I cannot use it if I have it" she looked at Stefan. "So I don't know if I have any magic"

"So that would make you a wampire or vitch" Damon teased her kissing her on the side of her head, his face falling serious again. "Now we need to tackle this clear headed and calmly"

"Klear headed and Kalmly" Bonnie grinned past Damon at Stefan. "Both spelled with a K"

Damon chuckled mockingly, his hand slipping into Bonnie's. "You are hilarious" he raised his eyebrows. "Now we need to get in and get out"

"Without too many dying" Stefan told him as they all climbed the steps to the main door and Damon waved him away with his hand.

"If people didn't want to die then they wouldn't go around and threaten those I care about" Damon pushed open the front door and stepped inside.

"So you made it just in time to save the girl" they all looked up the flight of stairs and saw a tall blonde man with hazel eyes staring down at them, holding out his wrist to show them his watch. "But I grew bored of waiting for you all to show up and I kind of killed the old one"

Stefan had to grab a hold of Damon to stop from running up the stairs. "Calmly, remember" he whispered into his ear, both of them still watching the blonde walking down the stairs towards them.

"Quite a volatile little thing, aren't you" he smirked at Damon, who was now struggling to break free from Stefan's grip and he growled. "So you must be Bonnie?" he stopped walking and smiled down at her, the look on his face angering Damon further. "The girl that the angry one left" he stopped talking and gave her a little frown. "Ah that is it, Elena"

"Don't let him get to you" Stefan warned him in his ear, but Damon ignored him, his eyes never leaving the blonde's.

"If you hadn't guessed it by now" he shook his head with a look of pride written all over his face. "I am the one the only, Josiah and my father is or should that be, was" he looked at Stefan with a glare, his lip curled in anger. "Caleb's first born son" he looked back up the stairs when a red headed guy appeared just behind him. "This is Joseph, my younger brother"

"And we have been looking forward to you arriving" he walked down the stairs and stood next to his brother.

"Where is she?" Damon snarled through his teeth, not wanting to play games any more. All he wanted to do was kill them both, save Elena and take Bonnie home for a joint shower.

"I don't remember" Josiah laughed in his face.

"Then you had best start remembering" he growled at him, his hands clenching at his sides.

"Oh is that a threat" Joseph looked at his brother with a look of amusement.

"I think so, Joe" Josiah laughed deeply, his hand on his stomach as he bent over.

"Shall I take him out, or would you like to do it?"

Damon smirked up at them both. "It doesn't matter, because I am going to kill you both" he put one foot on the first step.

"Damon" Bonnie shouted out in alarm when she watched him being lifted off his feet and thrown into the wall behind her, knocking him unconscious.

Stefan made a run up the stairs for Josiah but Joseph stepped in his way and with a slight twist to his hand Stefan fell back down the stairs, his neck hanging at a weird angle.

"Oh the little witch turned vampire" Josiah grinned down at her standing there staring up at them. "Now what are we going to do with you?"

"So what is it going to be?" Joseph sat down on the step that he had been stood on, turning up at his brother. "Go and move the girl someplace else and I will deal with these"

Josiah nodded to his brother and ran back up the stairs and turned left and Bonnie watched him go and when he disappeared from view she turned her gaze back on Joseph.

"Now, what am I going to do with you?" she asked him and he gave her a wide grin, shrugging his shoulders.

"I could think of one way to waste away the time after I have killed your little friends there" he motioned towards Stefan and Damon lying on the floor at the foot of the stairs. "I could take you upstairs into the master bedroom and show you things you have never seen before"

She leant against the banister, willing them both to wake up. "And what things would those be then?" she asked him, pretending to flirt with him, but feeling sick to her stomach.

"Ever made out with a witch before?" he asked her and she shook her head, a plan forming in her mind. "Would you like too?" he asked her and she nodded back at him with a smile. "Let's go" he held out his hand to her and she took it and allowed him to lead her up the stairs and down the hallway and in through a set of double doors. "You are so hot" he said heading for the bed and climbed up on it.

"Mors murum" she smiled at him, throwing everything she had into casting the spell and he flew to his feet and tried to get off the bed, only to hit an invisible wall.

"You bitch" he snarled at her, fists hitting out at the wall she had flung up around the bed.

"Ah, are you trapped" she cocked her head to the side and smirked at him. "Too bad" spinning on her heels she walked back out of the bedroom and closed the door behind her. "Abscondas" she watched the door disappear before she walked back down the hallway towards the top of the stairs and looking down she couldn't find either Damon or Stefan anymore. "Elena" she thought to herself as she made her way after Josiah.

"Bonnie" Damon called out in a low whisper and got no reply. "If they have touched one hair on her head" he looked back over his shoulder at Stefan standing behind him and in a low growl that escaped him before he had even known he had done it. "I will tear out Josephine's heart and hand feed it to Jopariah"

Stefan shook his head and carried on walking behind him along the hallway. "I'll go left" he mouthed to Damon who nodded back in reply, slipping around a corner.

"Well hello miss trendy" Damon leant against the door frame, looking at the tall girl with dark blue eyes and grey hair sitting on a threadbare couch drinking a coke. "How are we going to do this?" he stood up and walked further into the den and she turned and looked up at him. "You do know that that crap will rot your teeth, right?" he wrinkled his nose in disgust, but she went back to ignoring him. "Ignorance isn't only blissful sugar" he mocked her, now standing at the edge of the couch, looking down at the top of her head. "Because once I am involved there is only pain and death for ignorance"

"So you are the brother that stole his own brother's girl and then dumped her sorry ass when you fell in love with her best friend, who strangely became your best friend" she looked up into his scowling face. "Or am I wrong" she put down her can on the floor and stood to her feet and Damon saw that she was the same height as him. "Because it is my understanding that you are the most selfish person on this planet and the worst brother ever imaginable" she folded her arms across her chest and stared at him, waiting for him to speak.

"I will say this" he said cockily, folding his own arms across his chest, keeping eye contact with her. "If none of this was going on, then you and I might have had a chance to be friends. I kind of like that bitchy little thing you have going on. But seeing as you seem to know me so much" he raised his eyebrows, enouncing each word clearly. "Then you probably know what is going to happen now" he took a step towards her and before she could utter a single word his hand flew out and decapitated her and smirking down at her lying headless on the floor he crouched down and picked up her head, holding it out and looking into her shocked face. "Ok then, you didn't" he threw the head onto the couch. "Rot away now" he smirked before walking through a door on the other side of the room, wiping blood onto his already destroyed pants.

The door was open and she could see Elena sitting down in the middle of the bed, tied up. Josiah was walking back and fore at the bottom, talking to her and she kept shaking her head back in reply.

"I will do you a deal" he told her as Bonnie inched slowly into the room. "I will save one of your friends" she saw him stop, folding his arms across his chest, Elena's face pale now in repulse. "I will save the one whose heart you shattered and kill the two who shattered yours"

"You won't kill any of them" she sat back against the wall and Bonnie moved to stand just behind him.

"I have to kill at least two of them for what they did to my father" Josiah said in a matter of fact way, like it should have been more obvious to her.

"Your father" Elena snorted, holding back a giggle. "Was a power driven mad man and he tried to kill us all and when my friends kill you, then you can join him in hell"

Josiah started to chuckle and the sound reminded Bonnie of his father. "I doubt that very"

"Somnus" Bonnie said from behind him and the words fell away as he turned and looked into her face before he fell onto the floor.

"Bonnie" Elena cried out, jumping off the bed and into her arms.

"We don't have much time" Bonnie told her, taking her hand and leading her out of the room and closing the door behind her. "Abscondas" she said as it closed and leading Elena down the stairs she bumped into Damon at the bottom.

"Where have you been?" he whispered to her and then saw Elena standing next to her and he smiled at Bonnie. "Get her out of here while I go and find Stefan"

Bonnie nodded and made her way outside with Elena on her heels. "Don't be long" she stopped in the doorway and whispered back to him and he nodded. "One is trapped on a bed and the other is under a sleeping spell" he nodded again and made his way down the hallway and turning both girls made a run for it.

Bonnie saw a low fence at the bottom of the garden just short of the trees and she grabbed Elena's hand and helped her over onto the other side. "They won't be long" she turned and looked down at the cut seeping down one side of her friend's face and a frown appeared and biting into her wrist she held it out, but Elena shook her head.

"It isn't going to help me" she replied, her hand touching the wound on her forehead. "The cure is still inside me"

"What if I drank the cure from Elena" she thought to herself. "Or would I end up losing the part of me that is still witch too" she sat down next to Elena and tearing off a little of what was left of the hem on her wedding dress, she held it to her head. "They won't be long" she whispered to Elena as she sat there with her arm around her, trying to keep her warm until the boys came back.

He made his way towards the back of the house. Every step filled him with dread when he called out to his brother and kept getting nothing back. He suddenly toppled into a wall when the floor started to shake.

"Earthquake, now" he yelled out at the universe for throwing it in his way to get Stefan out of there before the crazy twins found him wandering they're derelict home.

Pulling himself off the wall he made his way further along the hallway, trying not to fall over again with the earthquake that still rippled along the ground and he had to dodge the ceiling falling in a few times.

"Stefan where are you?" he yelled out in fear that the Josiah had woken up and had gotten there before him. He didn't know what he would do if he had destroyed him. Damon flew faster now, anxious to find Stefan. Looking down he noticed that the ground had started to split in angry zigzags leading up to the front of the house, and slowly it was already starting to sink. "Please let him be alive" he sent out to whoever heard him. "Stefan" he called out frantically. The house slopped back, sinking even deeper at the back of the house and he had to stop himself from sliding into a fiery hole that was now the den, making a fast run he leapt the few feet, landing on the other side before he toppled and fell through the kitchen door and ended up crashing into the fridge. He looked around the kitchen, his lungs taking in nothing but thick clogging smoke. "Stefan" he called out again and heard a faint reply. Coughing he covered his mouth with his hand while he scanned the kitchen, instantly finding him trapped between the sinking back door and the kitchen floor, the house continued to sink at a quick rate, threatening to cut his brother in half. Damon flew to his side dodging gaps in the floor that sunk when his feet touched the tiles. "Stefan" he cried out frightened for his brother's life as he threw himself onto the floor in front of him, grasping his hand in his.

"Damon" Stefan spoke low. "I can't move my legs" tears flowing down his face and he weakly gripped Damon's hand back. "I need to tell you something"

"Tell me when I have got you free again brother" Damon told him trying to lift the back of the house off of him.

"No Damon" Stefan cried out as the pain took his breath away. "Leave me it's too late for me" Damon's heart started to beat way too fast again, but he refused to let his emotions get a hold of him. "Save yourself"

"Stefan still the irritating little martyr" Damon chuckled turning his face away from his brothers so that he wouldn't see the pain written there. "Always such drama with you brother" he laughed again as he tried to lift the door from off him, but it was no use he wasn't strong enough to fight all the power behind it.

Damon watched a pool of blood start to form around his brother's middle, his heart ended up back inside his mind, he felt everything that he had let resurface slam back into the boulder of his heart, more chains wrapping and holding it all in place again. His inner child screamed out in pain. "You will never take him from me" he bellowed to Josiah. Damon gritted his teeth together, the force cracked his back teeth and snapping two of his front and he spat them out standing back up gripping the top of the door frame, lifting it only a fraction before he felt more power sent out to knock him off his feet. He wouldn't give up. He knew one little slip and that would be his only brother gone, forever and he wasn't about to lose him no matter what. He felt sweat start to run down his forehead and into his eyes, blurring his vision, his hands were slippery but he still held onto the door. Crying when the door started to slip away from his grasp. "No don't take him, take me instead" he called out to Josiah who ignored his pleas. He tried to lift the door frame a little higher and he almost lost his footing again, the door making a fast move towards his bother and he just caught it in time before it made contact again. "Please take me" he cried out at deafening volume and Josiah sent a flash of power towards him, shattering the window pane in the door he was struggling to hold up, slicing into his face. His tears seeping into the wounds making him cry out in pain. "I will never give up until you kill me" he yelled again at Josiah. "You want my brothers soul then you are going to have to take mine too" he bit his bottom lip almost falling over again, but he refused to give his brother's life up to them that easily. "You are going to have to kill me because only over my dead body will I allow you to take him away from me. He's my brother and you have to get through me to take him" Damon gripped the bottom of the door, feeling more power running through the wood heating it up to an antagonistic temperature burning his hands. But still he held onto the door, both palms of his hands blistering and bursting. The pain made him scream out in agony, but it would be nothing like losing his brother, so he persevered and held onto the door even tighter. That was when the wood started to splinter, the top cracking as he was watched tiny pointed pieces of wood fall down onto his brothers still body. "No" he screamed out kicking one away from stabbing into his heart. "Take me instead of him" He cried out even louder kicking away another stake before it pierced his brothers body, still struggling with the growing weight of the door and his sweaty burning hands from losing his grip. "TAKE ME" he called out again. "He's the good one, it's me that you want" a tiny stake fell from the top of the door stabbing into his own shoulder, turning the muscle to jelly, but he wouldn't allow his own weakness to kill his brother. That was when the door started to shake violently in his hands, another stake hitting his left shoulder, both his arms without any sensation. "IT WAS ME WHO TORE THE HEART OUT OF YOUR STUPID USELESS PATHETIC FREAK OF A FATHER" he snarled out almost losing his hold on the door again. "AND I WILL KILL EACH AND EVERYONE OF YOU IF YOU TAKE MY BROTHER AWAY FROM HE. I WON'T REST UNTIL YOU BECOME EXTINCT AND YOU WON'T LIVE LONG ENOUGH TO REGREET TAKING THE WRONG BROTHER. I PROMISE YOU THAT I WON'T SLEEP EAT OR EVEN REST UNTIL EVERY ONE OF YOU ARE DECEASED AND HEAVEN AND HELL CRASH INTO ONE. I WILL MESS WITH THE ORDER OF THINGS SO MUCH THAT THE WHOLE GOD DAMN PLANET WILL EXPLODE" he growled out losing his mind even more, his heart banging against his chest. "I KILLED YOUR FATHER, JOSIAH. MY BROTHER IS INNOCENT" more stakes fell from the top of the door, jabbing both his eyes out and he felt them burst before gushing down his face. "I WON'T GIVE UP SO YOU'D BETTER TAKE ME" he cried out through the pain when a stake hit his lung and he started to lose his breath, but he refused to allow him to take Stefan. He was losing control of his arms and his legs were on fire, but he wouldn't give up trying to save Stefan. "TAKE ME" he yelled out again when another stake hit out his other lung, almost flooring him, but he stood stiff still struggling to hold onto the door, each breath that he took he fought the darkness that tried to swallow him within it. By now he couldn't see or feel the door anymore, but he wouldn't allow it to move an inch from his hands. "YOU WILL NEVER TAKE HIM AS LONG AS I'M STILL ALIVE SO YOU HAD BETTER TAKE ME TOO" something told him to move to the left of himself now and when he did he felt something pierce his side, just missing his own heart. "NICE TRY" he shouted without a breath. "I WILL NEVER DROP THIS DOOR ONTO MY BROTHER" a strong power hit his mind like a bolt of lightning and he swayed on his feet, almost losing his grip on the door, crying out in pain when his ear drums imploded into his brain. He was as good as dead but he still wouldn't let them take his brother away. "THROW WHATEVER YOU WANT MY WAY BUT YOU WILL NEVER TAKE MY BROTHER AWAY FROM ME" Damon cried out, not even hearing his own words anymore. That was the moment when he felt himself fall backwards and there wasn't a thing he could do to stop himself. "STEFAN NOOOOOO" he cried out when his own body made contact with the door. "STEFAN" he screamed. "I WILL KILL YOU ALL" his voice reverberated around the kitchen, as an earthquake shook its foundations. "Stefan" he cried out, the pain was like nothing he had ever felt before, except Bonnie's death. "TAKE ME TOO BECAUSE I AM COMING FOR YOU" he suddenly felt someone take a hold of his body, lifting him. "My turn" he thought not even caring when or how Josiah destroyed him now, not when his brother was already dead. He gave himself up willingly to them. He didn't know if his eyes were open or closed at this point. But he lay back in the arms and smiled and that was when he realised that they were familiar and he whispered to them. "I will never give up on you brother" the pain took him again and he knew he was passing out.

"Damon talk to me" Stefan repeated looking down worriedly at him now. "Damon can you hear

Me?" but he just continued to smile up at him and then he passed out. Stefan picked up his pace as he ran down the back garden, slipping between the uneven bushes, with his brother in his arms. If only he would be able to make it over the edge of the little fence then they both would be safe. The whole ground started to split under his feet as he ran towards the edge of the garden, his footing slipped and he accidentally let Damon go and he watched helplessly as his brother flew through the air before hitting the trunk of a tree, flopping down onto the grass. Stefan sighed as he started to make a move towards Damon, but the ground gave way and he felt himself falling downwards. Fire spat up all around his falling body like lava, singeing his clothes and threatening to burn him alive as he fell down onto a rock, he became unconscious after hitting his head.

"Stefan" Elena yelled out in fear when she saw the whole ground open up, swallowing him beneath it.

"You stay there" Bonnie told her leaping to her feet. "I will get Damon and try and wake him for help" she darted across the fence, her heart in her mouth when she reached Damon and dropped at his side. "Wake up" she begged him, shaking him slightly. "Damon" she cried out, her heart lodged somewhere in her throat and his eyes snapped open. "Stefan" she pointed towards the fire pit and he flew up onto his feet and made a run for the flames, but she held him back. "We need a plan"

He didn't have a chance to speak his plan to Bonnie when he saw the flames rising and running he looked down into the flames and saw Stefan lying there on a rock below him and leaping in he prayed that he wouldn't end up killing them both and landing on the balls of his feet in a crouch he tried to stand up against the wall of flames. He felt them reach out and lick at his back, the pain trying to drag him down to his knees. He could hear Bonnie yelling at him over the sound of the roaring fire that now seemed to surround them both.

"Damon" he heard and turning he dropped onto his knees, crawling through the flames that were now tunnelling overhead.

"Trust you to offer yourself up for a spit roast to the psycho redheaded crew" he pulled Stefan's head onto his lap, looking up at the ceiling of flames above them and shook his head. "Roast brothers, anyone" he laughed a little, trying to stop Stefan from freaking out when he looked up at the flames.

"Damon" Stefan panted, the thick smoke flowing into his lungs.

"Death by fire" Damon said with a lump rising at the back of his throat and he smiled, despite the smoke trying to choke him. "Has got to be a hell of a sight better than death by boring old stake" he winked down at his brother's pale face, blood still flowing from the back of his head. "Anyway, at least it took a lot to take down the Salvatore brother's" he started to cough, the force of it shaking both of them.

"Damon" they both heard Bonnie yelling from above the roaring flames, the skin on Damon's face starting to blister and melt.

"We are not dead yet brother" Damon told him as Stefan gazed up in shock at his melting face and frowned. "I can still hear my heart calling out to me"

Stefan cried out in pain and Damon saw both his legs on fire and he reached over and batted at the flames with his bare hands, the skin burning. "Damon" Stefan croaked, the ingested smoke burning his lungs. "It is too late; the fire is going to destroy us"

"Ignis egressus" they both heard Bonnie yelling from above and then they could see her worried face looking into the hole down at them both and then a smile appeared in her eyes.

"I love you" Damon mouthed up at her as he slowly made his way to his feet, dragging up Stefan with him and with one bound he made it onto the grass, falling over with his brother landing at his side.

"Aw" they heard and turning to face him, Damon snarled low. "And I was so looking forward to chargrilled vampire for tea"

"Looks like it is going to be dead witches instead" Damon climbed slowly to his feet, yanking Stefan up onto his badly burnt legs and moving to stand at Bonnie's side as she came forward to flank him.

"I wouldn't be so sure cocky one" Josiah smirked at him, shaking his head. "How about we start with dead hybrid" he looked from Damon to Bonnie and he muttered something under his breath and Damon suddenly sunk onto his knees, clutching at his throat, feeling blood rush down and he started to choke.

Bonnie's hand flew up. "Gaudete" she smiled before Josiah flopped forward, lying on the ground with a broken neck. "How about dead jackass" she smirked down at him before she turned to Joseph. "Ignis" she whispered and Damon's eyes flew open when he saw him burst into flames.

"A brain bleed would have been good" he patted her on the back. "But I like fire just as much"

"Not as much fun" she turned and gave him a look and he smiled at her, taking her into his arms and hugging her hard to his chest.

"Let's go home" he whispered into her hair, taking in her scent. "We have a reception to finish"

"Sounds like a plan to me" she looked up into his smiling face and turning they both walked back down the garden with Stefan and Elena following slowly behind them.

Standing back he wiped his arm across his forehead, looking down at the hole in the ground. He couldn't believe what he was about to do and no matter how much it pained him, he just couldn't cry anymore. He felt a small hand on his lower back and glancing back over his shoulder he saw her standing just behind him.

"I'm ok" he promised her, pulling her to his side and wrapping his arm around her, hugging her to him. "It just sucks that they died because of me" leaning his head on her shoulder he closed his eyes, listening to her heart beating always calmed him down.

"None of this was your fault" she closed her eyes, wishing that she could at least take some, if not all, of his pain away from him.

"What did you do that for?" he asked her, his tone shocked and pulling away from him she looked at him, unsure of where he was going with that.

"Do what?" she asked him, confusion in his tone.

"Try and turn off my humanity" he replied sitting down and dangling his legs into the open grave, patting the grass next to him and slowly she sat down.

"I didn't mean too" she pulled a face and he chucked her softly under the chin before wrapping his arm back around her, pulling her into his side.

"Honestly, I'm fine" he reassured her, wishing that were in fact true. "I have you by my side" he kissed the top of her head, leaning into her. "You and I are going to be together for the rest of our lives and there is nothing that I want more than" the words fell away and looking back over his shoulder he saw Stefan driving towards them and getting to his feet he held his hand out to Bonnie. "Did you manage to get the ones that I wanted?"

Stefan climbed out of the truck and shook his head. "I got them both white. They didn't have any black in, so I thought white would be fine"

Damon went to open his mouth in protest, but one look from Bonnie silenced him. "That is fine" he walked over to the back of the truck and pulled the door up and saw the two caskets lying side by side in the back and with his heart somewhere in his mouth he leapt up and grabbing the handle he pulled the first on towards him while Stefan took the second one.

"Did you get Alba out of the house ok?" Stefan asked them both, worried over Damon's frame of mind.

"We did" Damon replied, smiling a little over at Bonnie standing next to the graveside with Elena and he blew her a kiss. "Carnina was a little trickier to find. But Bonnie used a locator spell and it didn't take that much longer then"

"I got the tickets" Stefan laid the casket next to Damon's and standing up he frowned at his brother. "But we don't leave until tomorrow night. So I have booked up some suites at the Grand"

"I hate that place" Damon pulled a face at him.

"You were thrown out after almost burning it to the ground" Stefan retorted.

"They're pretentious jackasses" Damon threw in as he pulled open one of the coffins.

"You tried to burn it to the ground" Stefan chuckled heading to the car with Damon and leaning against the trunk.

"Because they were pretentious jackasses" Damon retorted pushing his brother off the trunk and pulling it open. "And I did burn the whole east side to the ground" Damon said, shaking his head. "But they should never have tried to throw me out at two am for getting blood on the carpet"

Lifting Carnina out of the trunk they laid her gently into the casket and giving her one last kiss on her forehead, Damon closed the lid and locked it. Then he looked down at Alba laying there, a lump in his throat.

"You are the reason why I have the greatest love in my life and I will always be thankful for you" he whispered to his friend just as they lifted him out and laid him in the coffin next to his wife and Damon vowed that if anything were to happen to Bonnie, then he would make sure that Stefan knew to bury him with her.

"Are you ready for this?" Stefan asked him after placing Carnina's coffin on top of Alba's before lowering them into the grave and Damon shook his head.

"I don't have a choice" he stepped back to Bonnie's side and felt her slip her hand into his own.

"How do we let one friend go? Let alone two. How do we say "I'm ready now to go on without you"? How can we ever have a clue of what that really means? And of a sudden the moment is upon us, and there's no turning back. And then we know what grief is,... and guilt and love and things undone.

Try to prepare and we will fail in some way, be it subtle or looming..." He looked at Bonnie and her hand tightened on his. "But there is peace too. Peace and acceptance and overwhelming love that we maybe weren't aware of. Waves and waves of conflicting emotion, And laughter too, and memories we hadn't bothered lately to recall come flooding back in shared company... and it's all about you two, Alba and Carnina. And there's gratitude... so much of that, that we had you, such wonderful friends...Bright and shining, nobody's fool, independent, but humble too; Smart, and kind, and fun. Adventurous.. Clear headed and calm and with hearts big enough to keep the whole world alive. A part of you has passed away, but much is carried everyday within us, and will as long as we are here." He stopped talking and caught his breath, he felt like he was swaying on his feet and if it hadn't been for Bonnie's hand in his, then he would have fallen to the floor. "This may be a final tribute. A day to celebrate your lives and say goodbyes; But it's not final. Every day I'll celebrate in some way, just by the virtue of how you shaped my life, how you saved my life and gave me my life" he looked at Bonnie and she smiled gently up at him. "The absolute and incredible fortune that I knew you both, my dearest friends" he threw his two roses down onto the coffins and closed his eyes he stood there in silence while listening to Stefan filling them in with the soft earth.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

He tapped on the bathroom door and walked in with a huge smile on his face. "Is there any room for one more" he raised his eyebrows and she smiled back at him nodding.

"Always room for you"

Damon untied the robe and let it drop to the floor, stepping into the round tub with her and sunk down into the hot water and it flowed like silk over his stressed out shoulders. "How do you feel?" he asked her.

"Good" she handed him the shampoo and shifting her body round she was now sat in front of him.

"About being a vampire" Damon started to wash her hair and she closed her eyes, loving the feeling of his fingers massaging her head. "I am sorry" he leant forward and kissed her on her shoulder. "I would have done anything to have stopped it if I could have" she nodded, looking back at him over her shoulder.

"It really is ok" she closed her eyes, his fingers moving in circles now and she couldn't help move closer to him until her back hit his front and she laid back against him.

"I never wanted this life for you" he told her as he lifted her off him and turning her round to face him, he gave her sorrowful eyes. "Bonnie I want you to drink the cure from Elena"

She sat there in front of him in shock and she had no idea how to respond. She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came to her.

"But it is for you Bonnie and I don't want you having to live the rest of your life hating me for what you have become" she went to open her mouth to speak, but he silenced her with a kiss. "You are a witch and you love being a witch and I will always love you, no matter what you are or what you become. But I don't think you are going to like this life you have now" he closed his eyes, pulling her down onto his chest and he hugged her until he thought he was going to break them both in half. "I want you to be who you want to be and if being a vampire is what you want now, then I will say no more on it. But I know you, you know me and so I am willing to drink the cure with you and become human" she gasped in shock and he opened his eyes and found her sitting up staring at him. "Bon" he sat up, his hands holding onto her face. "I want everything that I can begin to imagine having, with you. I want you and me to live one epic life together. I want you to have my babies. I want you to grow old with me and watch our own children and grandchildren growing up" he kissed her on her forehead with such vigour that it scared him a little. "I want us to grow old together, Bon. I want to live one human life with you that will outshine a million vampire lives without you" he stared into her green eyes. "Will you spend one human life with me?"

She sat there looking at him, opening and closing her mouth like a fish. She couldn't think to speak and if she could think, she had no idea if her words would flow out of her mouth right or even if they would be in an order that he or even she for that matter would be able to understand.

"I was going to drink it from her when I thought that she was the one I wanted to be with. But I never really wanted to be human. The part of me that had thought I wanted to spend my life with her was afraid of losing her. But I am petrified of losing you. And I want nothing more right now than to be human with you. Will you be human with me?" he could feel his heart beating way too fast again, his fear clung to him that she would say no.

Bonnie's grin widened and she flung her arms around his neck and leapt into his arms and he just about caught her before she slipped out of his arms. "I would love too"

"I love you so much" his face creased in pain by the depth of his love for her and hungrily he kissed her breathless.

(new part)

Lying on the bed he watched her move around the bedroom, getting ready. His eyes never left her once while she sat in her bathrobe doing her hair and makeup.

"Do you know what, Bon?" he asked her and turning she looked back over her shoulder and shook her head, putting the brush back down on the dresser. "You are the most beautiful woman that I have ever seen in my whole hundred and seventy odd years of life"

Bonnie laughed. "I doubt that very much" she smiled at him. "And I love you too" she got up and removed the bathrobe and Damon's heart beat faster as he gazed at her in her underwear.

He flew off the bed, wrapping his arms around her, pulling her into him he nuzzled into the nape of her neck. "And who are you going to believe?" he asked her, pulling her face up to meet his own and lightly he kissed her on the lips. "Are you going to believe a photograph? A mirror or the eyes of the man who loves you and only sees beauty in you" he kissed her again. "Bonnie Salvatore, I love you beyond anything in my own life. Beyond actual words. I love you with so much conviction that I fear it killing me by the strength of it and when I tell you that you are the most beautiful woman in the world to me, you had better believe it baby"

"I believe you" she smiled at him, taking a hold of both his hands in her own.

"Can't we tell them that we are tired and need to have an early night?" he raised his eyebrows and she fell against him, burying her face in his chest.

"No" she replied with a glum look written all over her face and it was his turn to laugh. "We told them that we would join them for dinner and so we are. Now get into that bathroom and get ready or I am going to take you in there myself"

He grinned and picking her up, threw her over his shoulder. "Now that is what I do like to hear"

"Damon" she squealed just as the door knocked and reluctantly he put back down on the floor outside the bathroom door and handed her, her bathroom and tapping her lightly on the bum he flew across the room to answer the door.

"Thank you" she heard Damon say to someone and closing the door he turned and held out a box to her and slowly she walked across the room and took it from him, frowning. "Open it" he urged her and watching her lay the huge box on the bed, she opened it and gasped.

"The dress" she smiled up at him standing behind her with his arms wrapped around her middle, hugging her to him.

"I love you in that dress and since it got damaged when Caleb destroyed my grandparents' home, I figured that I would get you another" he looked down at the dark green silk wrap dress. "And the dress is special to us" he kissed her on the shoulder. "We both confused our love while you were in that dress. I know it isn't the same as the actual one you wore, but I thought that" he didn't get to finish his train of thought when she spun around in his arms and throwing her arms around his neck, she pulled him into her and kissed him breathless.

"I love it and I love you" she smiled up at him before patting his bum. "Now we both need to get dressed"

"Are you wearing the dress?" he asked her raising his eyebrows and she nodded up at him with a beaming smile. "Then this is going to be the quickest dinner in known history" he kissed her again before heading into the bathroom. "And the second we come back, that dress is coming off" he headed into the bathroom and left her standing there holding the dress to her, and holding it close she closed her eyes and smiled.

(new part)

"You do know that you are meant to bring wine to dinner" she giggled falling into his side.

"Why have wine when you can have bourbon" he grinned back down at her, knocking the door.

"Come in" they both turned and looked at Stefan in shock. "Food has already arrived and I am starving" he stepped back to allow them both into the room and Damon turned and looked down at Bonnie at his side. "I know you can spot it a mile away" Stefan chuckled a little as he took the bottle from Damon. "But we thought that since you and Bonnie are now married and both vampires" he put the bottle down on the table and turned back to face them. "That you wouldn't want it anymore and so when Elena suggested that I drank the cure from her, I didn't even have to think about it"

Both Damon and Bonnie's mouths fell open in shock and Elena laughed at them. "Stefan wanted to be human more than anyone I have ever met and so I thought, well we both thought" Elena corrected herself. "That he could now have that chance" she looked at Bonnie with a huge smile. "Bonnie, you look amazing" she gushed. "Doesn't she, Damon"

Damon pulled a face at her. "You don't need to tell me what my wife looks like Nancy Drew" he sat down reluctantly when Stefan nodded for them both to sit.

"Isn't this nice" Damon spoke in a sickly sweet tone, pricking Bonnie's ears to him about to kick off and she put her hand on his thigh. "All of us together having Dinner. The ex" he glanced at Elena before looking at his brother. "The thief and my beautiful wife" he took Bonnie's hand into his and kissed it. "So" he asked them both, leaning his arms on the table. "How long did it take you both before you bumped uglies?" his eyes widened and Stefan was about to open his mouth in protest.

"Damon" Elena snapped while Bonnie covered her hand over her eyes.

"What, Elena?" his head snapped towards her. "Are you going to sit there and tell me that I am wrong and you are little miss whiter than white. After all, it didn't take you too long to jump into my bed after my brothers now, did it?"

"None of your business" she snapped back at him and he sat back in his seat and laughed at her.

"I will take that as not very long" he wrinkled his nose at her before turning back to Stefan. "Screw this" Damon snarled low, looking across the table at his brother before turning to look at Bonnie. "I'm going to hold him down while you take the cure from him and then I will take it from you"

Elena gasped and he turned and glared at her. "If she does that, then Stefan will die" she couldn't believe what Damon was actually saying now and he simply shrugged his shoulders.

"I'm going to end up losing him one day" he said as a matter of fact. "So why not now" he got to his feet and stared menacingly down at his only brother. "You should never have taken the cure as your own. You knew it was mine" he almost flipped the table over and tore out his newly human brother's throat and if it hadn't been for Bonnie's hand on his arm, he would have.

"You are with Bonnie now" Stefan sat there and stared up into his irate brother's eyes.

"I know" Damon spat each word out at him like he was mentally retarded. "And I want to live a human life with her and have children. But now thanks to you, that is never going to happen" Damon picked up the table and threw it across the room over Stefan's shoulder and he ducked just in time. "So tell me" Damon sat down on the edge of his seat. "How does your vampire girlfriend, Caroline, fit into all this?" he watched his brother's face fall, realisation setting in. "You know the bossy control freak of a blonde that you have been sharing your bed with for months now" he smirked at him openly, cocking his head slightly to the side. "What do you think she is going to make of you jumping into bed with her" he nodded towards Elena still sitting there in shock. "Do you think she is going to take it well? Because I know that she isn't Stef"

"Damon" Bonnie scolded him and he looked at her and gave her a bright smile.

"I should snap your neck" Damon got back to his feet and took two steps closer to his brother sat on his chair in front of him and crouched down, not breaking eye contact. "But I won't. That would be way too easy. And such a waste of the cure that I want for my wife and I" he put his hand on Stefan's knee and grinned up at him. "Too bad your human life isn't going to last half as long as you had hoped it would" Damon's hand flew out and wrapped itself around Stefan's neck and standing up he pulled his brother up with him, holding him a few feet off his feet. "How weak and pathetic you are now, brother" he mocked him.

"Damon" Bonnie snapped, but he was far too angry to hear her now.

"You wouldn't kill me" Stefan replied, struggling to breathe under Damon's titanium grip.

"Wouldn't I" Damon threw him across the room and he hit the wall hard and made a move to run at him, but dropping onto his knees he held onto his head, looking back at an even angrier Bonnie.

"I am never speaking with you again" and with that she left the room and slammed the door behind her.

Damon fell forward on his hands, gasping for air and after a few seconds he got back to his knees, wiping the blood from his mouth and looking over at Stefan being helped back onto his feet by Elena. "This isn't over by a long shot and if you want to live then you will run and never stop running" he got back to his feet. "Because I will find you when you stop and I will take back the cure"

"It was the only way to stop Rayna coming for me" Stefan protested but Damon shook his hand at him as he walked out of the room, making his way back to his own and finding he had been locked out, he tried knocking only to be told to go away.

"Please open the door, Bonbon" he pleaded with her, only to be met with silence. "I'm sorry, I snapped. I didn't mean it. Please" he laid both hands flat against the door, hoping she would let him in. "I will be back" he whispered to the door, his chest feeling tight and for the first time in his life, he didn't threaten to kick the door down. "I'm going down to the bar if you need me baby" he called in through the locked door and waiting a few seconds for a reply, he turned and walked towards the lifts, wishing he hadn't reacted the way he did.

(new part)

"Can I get bourbon" Damon asked the bartender. "Neat" he looked around the bar and wished that she was there with him. "Make it a doubt, no a triple. Hell, just hand me the bottle" he was in pieces and he knew that it was all his own fault, but still it killed him inside that now he would never have that human life with her.

"Rough night" he turned and looked into bright blue eyes and nodded. "Would you like some company?" she asked him and he shook his head. "I can be a great listener or so I have been told" she giggled a little.

"You would never be able to understand" he filled up a glass and waved at the bartender for another glass and filling it up he slid it over to the girl at his side.

"How do you know unless you try me" she turned on her bar stool and smiled at him and shrugging he got to his feet.

"Let's find a table then" he walked off and leaping from the stool she trailed after him and sat down next to him, sipping at her drink. "So do you want to tell me what is going through your mind?"

He shook his head, knocking back his drink and slammed the empty glass back down onto the table and started to pour himself anther. "I don't want too. But I need to tell someone before I end up doing something stupid that will haunt me for the rest of my life and take it from me, which is one heck of a long life"

"I'm Cassie"

Damon looked at her, his pain etched on his face for anyone to see. "Damon" he said, knocking back his second glass. "You see the thing is this" he looked her straight in the eye and I want your honest opinion, can you do that?" she nodded and he smirked at her, refiling his glass and taking a sip before speaking again. "Seven years ago I thought that I was in love with my brother's girl. And she hated me and was so into him. Then she stopped hating me and started to fall for me and then I was thrilled, you know?" Cassie nodded as she took a long sip of her drink. "Then he went off with a friend and did some things that even I wouldn't do and she fell for me even more. Then she became a vampire and she fell completely"

"A what?" Cassie spat out her drink and Damon grabbed her face and turned her to face him.

"You will not freak out and you will listen to me just like I am having a normal human crisis" Cassie nodded at him and he let her face go. "Then we started dating and I thought it was the best thing to have ever happened to me" he picked up his glass and waved it at the girl. "Boy was I wrong. Then I ended up trapped in a nineteen nighty four prison world with my best friend Bonnie. We came back and Kai, the psycho family slayer got out of the prison world, which was his own personal hell and not mine like I had assumed. Put my girlfriend under a sleeping beauty spell and attached it to the life of my friend Bonnie. I had to save her, I could never live without Bonnie and I never knew why. You would think I would want my girl awake, wouldn't you" he asked her and she nodded. "Wrong" he made a little gong sound with his throat and laughed a little. "I wanted Bonnie. We had to leave and come here. Then I realised my love lay with Bonnie, my best friend and not with my brother's ex, Elena, my sleeping girlfriend. We were about to get married when my brother turns up with my girlfriend, who is now awake by the way" Damon knocked back his drink and refiled both his and Cassie's glasses. "Then hell broke lose. But we dealt with it and I married Bonnie. It was the best day of my life and I wouldn't mind reliving that in a constant loop for an eternity, you know" Cassie nodded as she took a sip of her drink. "Then I died and my wife died and became a vampire. I'm a vampire by the way. But before Elena was put into the sleeping spell she took the cure for vampirism"

"There is a cure?" Cassie frowned, reaching past Damon to grab the bottle and pouring them both a glass and Damon nodded.

"I wanted my wife to drink the cure from my ex and then I was going to drink it from my wife so that we could live a normal human life together and have children. But my vampire brother took it and now if I take it from him, he will die a slow and painful; death. But I would give anything, do anything to be human with her and I attacked my brother and tried to kill him"

"You did" Cassie gasped in shock now and closing his eyes, Damon nodded.

"I love him, but I wanted Bonnie and I to lead a normal human life and it scares me every day that one day she is going to blame me for being a vampire and leave me"

"She would never leave you" they both looked up and Cassie grinned and Damon scowled.

"Cassie, my brother Stefan" Damon said with a bitter note to his tone. "Stefan, meet Cassie"

Stefan sat down and leant across the table. "Damon, I knew you didn't mean to attack me and that you were acting out because you were angry at me for what I had done"

"Acting out" Damon was fuming now. "If I could act then I would be in Hollywood, but I'm not. I was pissed and I am still pissed at you for taking what should have been mine. Mine and Bonnie's future you stole away and now she is going to have to be forced to live" he stopped talking and turning to Cassie. "Forget everything I have ever said to you and leave" she nodded and got to her feet and getting to his own he grabbed the bottle and looked down at Stefan. "Or maybe she won't have too" he left with Stefan calling after him and running up the stairs he knocked on the door and she answered him. "Bonnie, hear me out" he walked across the room and put the half bottle of bourbon on the table, turning back to face her. "I should never have taken my anger or frustration out on Stefan. But I know another way how you and me can be human together"

She sat down on the edge of the bed and he flew to her side and took her hands into his. "How? Taking it from Stefan will kill him and I would rather live as a vampire than kill your brother"

Damon shook his head with a small smile. "I have the key to Kai's cell in my chest back home and I want you and me to go there and get the cure from Silas" Bonnie gasped out loud and his smile grew. "We could have a little honeymoon while we are there" he raised his eyebrows. "What do you say?"

"I think you are mad, but I love it" she threw her arms around his neck and he hugged her tightly to him, closing his eyes he thanked whoever was listening that she didn't hate him, he could never live with her hating him. "So" she pulled herself back a little. "You have the ascendant?" he nodded at her, his smile the brightest it has ever been. "Then nineteen nighty four, look out" she laughed with him as she fell back into his arms and he kissed her.

(new part)

"Someone has had a little too much fun while I was gone" Damon looked around his ripped up bedroom. "They could have left the throw pillows" he sat down on the edge of the bed next to Bonnie. "Those were vintage" Bonnie started to laugh. "What?" he asked her, nudging her with his shoulder.

"You are more concerned about your throw pillows than the whole house being ravaged and torn apart" she couldn't stop laughing and slipping his arm around her shoulder he pulled her into him and kissed her on the cheek.

"They were my favourite ones" he teased her and then he jumped up onto his feet and ran across the room and flipped open the lid of the chest. "Thank god" he said in elation, sitting back on his heels and holding out the ascendant out to her. "Are you ready for the trip of a lifetime?"

"What if it is now gone away?" she asked him, getting to feet. "What if Kai was telling the truth and him dying made all the Gemini prisons go away"

He heard her pain and taking her into his arms he whispered to her. "Kai was a liar and a psycho" he reassured her. "The other side will be perfectly fine. I have the key" he held it out to her again and she took it. "We can always find out and if it is gone then we won't be able to leave, right?"

Bonnie nodded and then a thought hit her. "What if we do leave and it is gone and we end up dying"

Damon became shocked by that and shuddered a little. "Then I can't think of another single person that I would rather die with, than you, Bonnie Sheila Salvatore" he grinned down at her. "Besides, we will never know unless we try"

She didn't have to think twice about it when she took the knife from him and drew it across the palm of her hand, dripping a little onto the key and started the spell that would take them both back to Nineteen ninety four. "I love you" she whispered to him as they were once again sucked into the bright white light.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

"We made it" he picked her up and swung her around, his excitement levels growing. "We made it" he put her back down onto her feet and kissed her, hard. "And this time it is so much better than before as you and I, are the only two people in the whole world, again"

"Um, Damon" she said, grimacing and lifting his head he stared around them.

"This is the shake shaft" he said grabbing her arm and leading her in through the unlocked door and up to the counter and sat her down, his hands on her shoulders. "I am going to make you the best milkshake that you have ever tasted" he flew around the counter and picking up a funky blue and green apron, he tied it around himself. "The chocolate malted milkshakes here are the best in the whole world"

"When did you ever drink a milkshake" she burst out laughing at him and he leant over the counter and planted a kiss on the tip of her nose.

"When I was younger" he wiped his hand down the side of his apron, mischievously. "A lot younger"

"So how young?" she asked him playfully, leaning towards him on the counter while he mixed the chocolate ice cream, malted milk powder with two cups of whole milk.

"It was around the fifties, so a lot younger" he teased her, raising his eyebrows at her as he added in the malt and she gave him a look and he held his hand to his heart. "Ok, I was here picking up college chicks when I got back from London and just before I was captured and became an Augustine experiment, but" he pointed at her, raising his eyebrows. "I still loved the milkshakes and good old jack would always add something extra for me"

"Ah, Damon, gross" she wrinkled her nose in disgust and he started to laugh.

"Where did you hide that bottle, Jack" he spoke to himself while he rummaged underneath the counter and then with a triumphant. "Yes" he appeared again with a bottle of bourbon and a twinkle in his eye. "Old jack made me my own special shake and this is one you will never ever forget"

"Oh" Bonnie laughed, shaking her head at him and he pulled a face at her as he poured in a couple of shots of whisky.

"Bonbon" he smiled at her, starting the blender again. "I love you dearly, but that thought process you just had was gross" he poured the shakes into two tall glasses and adding whipped cream he sprinkled a few chocolate malt balls on top and slid one towards her. "Almost forgot" he popped in a straw and taking off his apron he flew around the counter to join her and sitting down on a stool he watched her take her fist sip. "Good?"

"Oh my god" she said before taking a longer sip. "I think I am dead and in heaven. Because these are way too heavenly to be real" he grinned at her, taking a long sip of his own and pulling a face that screamed 'oh my god' at her. "What can't you do?" she asked him, bumping him with her shoulder. "You are the pancake king. Now milkshakes"

"I'm also really good in bed" he said suddenly and she spat out her milkshake in shock. "Hey" he laughed as he leant over the counter and grabbed a cloth and started to wipe down the counter. "I am not that bad"

"No" she gasped, trying to get her breath back after almost choking on some that ended up in her windpipe. "It just came out of nowhere"

Damon spun her stool round to face him and wrapping his arms around her waist he pulled her onto his lap and kissed her. "So" he said, pulling back a little, his arms still wrapped around her tightly and he looked into her bright green eyes. "You think I can't cut it in bed, uh?" she shook her head and nibbled on her lip seductively. "No, uh?" she nodded and picking her up he sat her on the counter and she wrapped her legs around him, pulling him towards her. "We'll see about that" he ripped off her shirt and allowed it to fall behind the counter, his mouth hitting the mound of her breast and she squealed out as he pulled her a little closer to him. "Baby, I am going to rock this prison world off its axis" Damon lifted her skirt up to her waist, his fingers hooking under the lace of her panties. "Bonnie Salvatore, I am going to" she tugged off his shirt and threw it across the room, her hands in his hair, pulling his face towards her own.

Someone started to cough and in shock he turned around and looked at him standing there. "I don't mean to be a bother" he said to them, staring at Bonnie and turning Damon stood in front of her to protect her modesty, glaring at him. "But how come you are here?"

"I was just wondering the same thing about you" Damon pulled a face of distaste. "Would you mind handing me the shirt and stop trying to peek at my wife" the guy simply stood trying to look past Damon at Bonnie sitting behind him on the counter. "Or, you know" Damon sneered at him. "I could simply tear out your eye balls and make you choke on them"

The guy bent and threw the shirt to Damon who as fast as a pouncing cobra slid it over Bonnie's head, pulling down her skirt. "Thanks" Bonnie told the new guy as Damon helped her down off the counter, his face contorting in disgust at being interrupted.

"I'm Chuck" the guy came forward and held out his hand to Damon who ignored it and he held it to Bonnie who shook it. "And you guys are?"

"Annoyed" Damon replied, sitting back down on the stool again.

Bonnie laughed lightly, shaking her head at Damon still scowling next to her with a smile. "I'm Bonnie and this is Damon"

"Well it is so good to meet you" Chuck replied, practically dancing in front of them both, trying not to look at Damon. "Welcome to my world" he whirled around on the spot in glee, throwing out his arms in welcome to them.

"Oh great" Damon mumbled to Bonnie. "We are here with a prima Donald" Bonnie bit her lip to stop herself from laughing when Chuck turned back to face them. "The thing is Donald" he smirked at the man in front of them that just wouldn't take his hints to leave.

"Chuck" Chuck corrected him.

Damon ignored him. "My wife and I want to be alone and you are kind of cramping that and killing the whole nineteen ninety four vibe for us" he made a motion with his hand for him to leave. "So would you scally on out of here and go someplace else" he finished with a hidden threat to his tone.

"Nineteen ninety four" Chuck shook his head. "I don't know what drugs you two have been smoking, but this is nineteen fifty seven"

Damon and Bonnie both looked at each other in shook. "No" he said as he grabbed her hand and leapt off the counter and pulled her back outside onto the sidewalk, still shaking his head. "No, no, no"

"Damon" Bonnie said, holding onto his hand tightly. "Where did you get that ascendant?"

Damon turned and pulled a face and bit his lip. "I stole it from the Gemini's when I went searching for a way to bring you back" he let her hand go and started pacing back and forth. "I figured that it looked the same and so it would have been the same damn key"

"I have never been to Mystic falls in the fifties before" she told him with a fond tone, trying to calm him down.

"I have and I hated it" he took her hand, walking down the street.

"Where are we going?" she asked him, walking by his side.

"To the boarding house" he replied, his face stony but his tone soft and warm. "We need to figure out our next move and find out why Donald is trapped here in the first place"

"It is Chuck" Chuck suddenly said from behind them.

Damon snarled low. "Go away Donald before I Chuck you through some window"

"I am lonely" he stopped and whined behind them and Bonnie pulled Damon to a stop and he looked down at her with wide irate eyes.

"Let's just spend a few hours with him" she pleaded with him. "Have dinner?" she raised her eyebrows and he had no other choice then to give in to her.

He turned and faced Chuck. "A few hours and then you are leaving" he started walking the way they were going with Chuck following behind them like a puppy dog, annoying him further.

(new part)

"What the hell is wrong with you" Bonnie asked him after he slammed the door in Chuck's face and she opened it and allowed him inside the boarding house and looking at him she shook her head.

"Maybe I wanted to go to Mystic Falls in the nineties to spend some alone time with my wife and we land here, in an era that I hated more than others and find Donald following us around, undressing my wife with his eyes" he glared at Chuck standing next to her. "Seriously, do you want me to rip out your eyeballs with my teeth?" he stood there, still glaring. "Because you won't be the first that I have eaten the eyes out of"

"Damon" Bonnie scolded him and shaking his head he walked into the den and grabbed a bottle out of the drinks cabinet, slamming the door closed again.

"I think I will go and sit in the kitchen while you two are fighting" Chuck slowly started to walk towards the kitchen, but Damon flew and stood in front of him, his hand pushing him back a little.

"We are not fighting" Damon spoke slowly so that he could understand. "We are having a discussion and you can go and wait at your own home if you like" he walked away and headed into the kitchen, slamming down the bottle on the breakfast bar, searching for a glass. "Come on" he complained to himself, irately. "Where are the fricking glasses?"

Finding one he grabbed it and cracked it a little in his anger and threw it into the sink and grabbed another and took it back to the bottle and sat down on a stool and filled it to the brim.

"Damon" he heard Bonnie say behind him and he nodded, taking a long gulp. "I think you might be taking this too the extremes"

He nodded, still drinking his drink and slowly she sat down next to him, putting her hand on his arm. "Bon" he said, closing his eyes. "I don't want to cause you any alarm, but we need to get out of here and fast"

His words took her back a little, and she had no idea why he was acting this way. "We will need to find the ascendant first" she told him trying to soothe him with her tone.

"I don't know if I can wait that long" he got to his feet, drained his glass and headed back into the den. "You, Donald dick, where is the key to this god forsaken hell hole?"

Chuck rose slowly to his feet, shaking his head. "I have been searching for the key since I arrived here"

Growling low he turned and looked down at Bonnie standing behind him and she saw the pain in his eyes and she opened her mouth to speak to him, but he waved her off. "I'm going to take a shower before dinner" he glared at Chuck, who froze under it. "You sit and if you move then I will make you wish that whatever you did to get here got you killed" and with that he walked out of the room and flew up the stairs to his room and headed into the bathroom and scowled at his shower. "I so miss that crappy nineteen nighty four shower right about now" he stripped off and let his clothes drop onto the floor as he turned on the shower and giving it one hard thump on the side of the dial he stepped underneath the warm water, missing hot showers already.

He was washing his hair and cursing his stupidity over having the wrong key to the wrong prison world. He was angry with Chuck for being there, but most of all he was angry with himself for taking Bonnie there. Taking her to a time that had almost been the death of him.

(new part)

Bonnie sat down and handed Chuck a glass of whisky. "Are you from around here?" she asked trying to start a conversation, but he sat there frozen to the spot and nodded. "You can speak" she smiled at him. "He said not to move, not, not to speak"

Chuck relaxed a little, but he was still shifting uncomfortably under her gaze. "I live in an apartment above the shake shack now"

Bonnie nodded at him, wishing that Damon would hurry up as Chuck was starting to make her uncomfortable under his gaze. "I'm going to make a start on dinner" she got to her feet and left the room, practically running into the kitchen.

She had no idea what she was going to make. She had never been the best of cooks as her grams had always done it. But she did know how to make spaghetti. She just hoped that in nineteen fifty seven they had the right ingredients.

"Would you like a hand with that?" Chuck asked her standing behind her and making her jump and letting the fridge door slam closed she handed him everything she had in her hands.

"Can you chop those tomatoes, onions and mushrooms for me" she turned away from him when he walked away and took a deep breath, willing Damon to hurry up.

"It is a glorious day isn't it" she said to him, really hoping that he would stop looking at her boobs and meet her eye and he nodded, still looking at her breasts. "What date is it today?"

"July twenty sixth" he grinned at her as his eyes met hers for a spilt second before roaming back down to her chest again. "Nineteen fifty three to be exact" he glanced back down at what he was doing again.

Bonnie gasped and almost dropped the big pan onto the floor. "But you told us that it was nineteen fifty seven"

"Oh it would be now today in the real world" he looked up from the chopping board and she was glad that he looked her in the eye that time. "I have been here for four years"

"But in the real world it is twenty sixteen" she placed the frying pan onto the cooker top and lit it, pouring in a little oil before throwing in the onions he handed to her.

"Really" he whistled low. "So I have been here for a lot longer than I had realised then. It is that" he pointed his knife at the kitchen window. "Darn Luna eclipse day after day, can kind of crack the old nut shell" he tapped at the side of his head with the end of the knife and turning he placed it back down onto the chopping board, making his way across to Bonnie. "No wonder I am so horny"

Bonnie tried to move out of his way and side step him, but his hands hit the counter either side of her, blocking her in. "If you don't back off, I will scream the house down or burn you alive"

Chuck shook his head. "You can't use magic here" he looked into her shocked face when her magic failed to work. "Your little boy toy upstairs isn't even a vampire anymore. Magic doesn't work here because I am a witch that was sent here for being dumb enough to get caught and they made sure that they stripped away my magic to stop me from hunting down the ascendant and breaking out"

Bonnie didn't know what to do as she froze. She tried to scream out but his hand hit her mouth and he leant into the side of her neck and started sniffing at her. He pressed his body against hers so that she couldn't move, pinning her arms to her side she felt his excitement growing as it pressed into her leg.

"You are so beautiful that this is going to be the best yet for me" he looked into her eyes with a sneer, turning her sick to her stomach and she prayed Damon would hurry up. "I am going to be so gentle that you will fall in love with me" he stoked at her hair and reaching out she grabbed a hold of the pan and whacked him across the head with it and he staggered back into the breakfast bar, grabbing a hold to stop himself from falling on the floor.

"Get out of this house now before Damon comes down and kills you" she glared at him and nodding he made a run for the front door, leaving it open behind him and Bonnie ran to the door and watched him fleeing down the driveway, and closing and locking it she fell against it. "Pull yourself together girl" she said to herself, taking a few deep breaths to steady herself before heading back into the kitchen to finish dinner.

(new part)

Pulling on his pants he wiped at the mirror with his hand and stared at his reflection. He hated every second that he was there in that era. But he sure as hell wasn't going to let it ruin his time there with Bonnie. He made a vow to himself then and there that he would make it as happy and as fun as he possibly could whilst they searched for the key to get them home and get the cure. Not even Chuck was going to ruin it for them. Pulling on his shirt he felt his fangs break free, the veins in his face started to swell up and he needed something to help him to take the edge of it and turning he walked into his bedroom and sat down on the edge of his bed and tugged on his boots before heading out onto the landing and running down the stairs.

"Do you need a blood bag?" he called into the kitchen to her as he opened the cellar door and getting no reply he made his way down to the blood supply and opening the fridge he grabbed a bag and tore into it with his teeth and leaning back he drank it down in one, wiping his hand across his mouth he savoured the flavour. "I doubt Mr annoying is a vampire" he thought to himself as he grabbed a blood bag for Bonnie and made his way back up to the kitchen, already smelling the aroma of onions frying.

"I thought you would like" he stopped talking and stared down at her on her hands and knees cleaning up the onions and oil. "Everything ok in here"

She smiled up at him, nodding her head. "Yeah, everything is fine" she lied to him, struggling to keep the smile on her face. "Why wouldn't it be?"

He crouched down in front of her and took the wet cloth, handing her the blood bag and she stared down at it like she had never seen one before in her entire life. "It is a blood bag" he laughed at her expression. "You open it and you drink it" he mimicked tearing into it with his teeth before scooping up the last of the mess and lifting his arm he threw the cloth and its contents into the sink and sat down on the floor. "What is wrong, Bon?" he held onto her face with both his hands, kissing her once softly on the lips and she shook her head. "Bonnie, I know you, there is something wrong. Please tell me what that is so that I can help you"

She heard the pain and confusion in his tone and her heart started to break for him, but still she knew that she would never be able to tell him what chuck had tried to do to her whilst he was upstairs, he would never be able to forgive himself and he would only end up killing Chuck. "I am fine, honestly" she started to get to her feet but he flew up just before her and helped her up, pulling her into his arms, resting his face on the top of her head.

"Please tell me" he murmured to her, rocking them both with his swaying. "I am your husband and you can tell me anything"

"It really isn't any big deal" she pulled back a little, looking up into his face. "But I thought we weren't vampires anymore"

Damon laughed and hugged her harder. "The last time I checked we were exactly that. Why?" he asked her, looking at her again. "What made you think that?"

"Just being here" she replied, not knowing what else to say to him, but she had to keep him from finding out about Chuck. "In nineteen ninety four you weren't"

"That is because I died and was dead back then" he laughed with her now. "But I was still a vampire, just not an active vampire if you get my drift" she nodded, opening the blood bag and drank it down.

"You can feel it inside you right now, cant' you?"

Bonnie nodded, she could feel the vampire inside her with every breath she took and she had no idea why chuck would lie to her like that. Turning away from him she looked at the blind and pulled it down with magic.

"The eclipse already getting to you" he laughed as he pushed her gently down onto the stool and handed her a glass, filling it for her. "You sit there and let me make dinner" it was the least he could do; he knew that, after his behaviour when they got here, he owed her and he desperately wanted to make it up to her. "I'm going to make some pizza" he grinned at her and her face lit up.

"Yummy" she grinned back at him, finishing off her blood bag.

She loved watching him move around the kitchen, she had missed that when they left the prison world.

(new part)

Damon cut the pizza into slices before carrying it to the table and sat down. "Thank you" he smiled at her when she filled his glass for him. "I hate it here" he told her, honestly. "But I would go anywhere with you"

Bonnie bit into her pizza. "This is amazing" she said to him and he laughed.

"Try not to be too shocked" he picked up a slice and took a bite. "I can do a lot of things that you might not be aware of" he raised his eyebrows. "And thinking of those things that you do know off" he winked at her. "When are we going to finish off what we started at the shake shack before Donald, well, you know" Bonnie's smile fell from her face he frowned, biting his lip. "Something happened, didn't it" she quickly shook her head and took a bigger bite. "I know something is wrong" he put down his pizza and moved to sit next to her. "So you might as well just tell me what it is. Because you and I both know that I am not going to let it go until I find out"

Reluctantly she put down her pizza and turned to him. "You have to promise me not to over react or go off on one. You need to remain calm" he nodded at her, having no intention of remaining calm if Chuck had don't anything to her. "You have to give me your word that you won't run out of here"

He got to his feet, his face contorting with his anger. "I will kill him"

"For what?" she asked him, grabbing a hold of his hand and yanking him back down into his seat. "What are you going to kill him for, exactly?"

He shook his head. "I don't know" he spat in a half growl. "But I will kill him nether the less"

Bonnie picked up her pizza, annoying him by her inability to put his mind to rest.

"What did he do, Bon?" he asked her and she pretended not to hear him. "If you don't tell me then I am going to tear this town apart until I find him. Then I will beat it out of him. Do you want that?" he asked her, knowing that he would touch her compassionate side and turning she looked at him, shaking her head.

"What I want is for you to give me your word that you will let it go and do nothing about it" she kept eye contact with him and it was his turn for his face to fall. "If I tell you, you don't do anything"

"Ok" he nodded, just wishing she would tell him, his mind was flying away with all sorts of different scenarios.

"He tried to" she started to say and he leapt back to his face, his face clouded with anger again.

"Tried to what" he roared, already wanting to tear him apart with his bare hands.

"You gave me your word" she yanked him back down into his seat, his face crushing with his pain again. "He tried to have sex with me"

"He tried to rape you?" he asked her, his own words felt bitter in his mouth and he wanted to throw up.

"I don't think so" she replied, and he heard the truth in her tone. "I think he just came on a little too strongly and so I hit him over the head with the frying pan.

He made a move to get to his feet and she put her hand on top of his. "I am only going to be a moment" he smiled down at her, kissing her on the top of her head. "I am getting more cheese" he lied to her and she let his hand go and he flew out of the kitchen towards the front door, his anger bubbling quickly to the surface.

"Oh no, you don't" she stood in his way, her back to the door. "You are not going anywhere" he turned pleading eyes on her and she shook her head back at him. "You gave me your word, Damon"

Her anguished tone cut into his heart like a knife and nodding he leant his head against her shoulder, closing his eyes. "I would never be able to live with myself if he had hurt you while I was in the shower" he spoke fast, past the lump forming at the back of his throat.

"Nothing happened" she reassured him, lifting his head up to hers. "I am fine, see" she smiled and he smiled back at her a little through his anger and need to kill something.

"I love you so much" his voice breaking on him under the strength of his feelings for her.

"I love you too" she grinned as he kissed her and picking her up he carried her towards the stairs.

"I'm going to show you how a real man treats a lady"

(new part)

She lay there in his arms, her fingers trailing his chest. "Damon" she spoke tenderly and his heart skipped a beat. "Why don't you like it here?"

He pulled himself away from her and sat up, swinging his legs out of bed. He couldn't bring himself to utter those words that he had thought he had buried deep within him a long time ago.

"Please" she moved closer to him, wrapping her arms around him, leaning on his back. "I only want to help you"

He knew that he had no other choice but to tell her. "I will tell you" he pulled himself back onto the bed and sat back against the headboard, with her lying in his arms again and he kissed the top of her head. "It is a long story" she nodded up at him and he kissed her on the forehead. "In nineteen fifty three, I came back to Mystic Falls to try and find a way to break Katherine out of the tomb. You can imagine by then that I was growing frantic of always hitting a brick wall everywhere I turned. I was told that there was a way, but it lay back home. So I reluctantly I came back here" he pulled her in a little more to him, his arm slipping around her and he played with her hair while he talked, trying to distract himself from feeling it all over again. "I met a girl" he told her, waiting for her reaction to that and she started to laugh when she picked up on it.

"I know you have lived a long life before I was born Damon" she grinned up at him with a little chuckle. "It is ok that you have been with other girls"

He kissed her on the forehead again, his fingers caressing her bare shoulder. "Her name was Jasmine and she was home for the summer from Richmond college. It was June the eighteenth and"

"Your birthday" Bonnie interjected and he laughed a little, pulling her into him.

"Yes, but not what I was going to say" he looked at her and his heart tugged in his chest with his love for her. "And I was heading into the shake shack when I bumped into her walking out. She was so beautiful and her laugh was so infectious" he looked at his fingers drawing invisible shapes on her shoulder, while his mind was slowly starting to drift back in time. "I asked her out and she turned me down and so I kept asking her out and so in the end, reluctantly" he laughed a little, remembering it as if it were yesterday. "She agreed to a date with me and we planned on meeting at the shake shack that night. We started dating and before you knew it she was feeding me her blood to stop me from killing. And for the first time since I became a vampire, I didn't want to kill anymore and slowly she was helping me overcome that desire to kill. But then I got a lead of a witch in New York that knew how to break the seal into the tomb to free Katherine and no matter how much I loved Jasmine by now. My love for Katherine was still much too strong and so I left a note for Jasmine, telling her that I was going for the night and made plans to meet up for dinner the next evening" he stopped talking and swallowed hard. "When I got back the next day, after another failed lead" he looked into her face, his eyes filing a little with tears and her heart was breaking for him. "I found out that Jasmine had been raped and murdered and so then I spent the next four years searching for the man that I would take out every single ounce of pain that I have ever felt in my entire life that I had suffered, on. It was like searching for a corner in a round room" he closed his eyes, his arm tightening around her shoulders, afraid in case she was suddenly pulled away from him. "Then just like that" he clicked his fingers, making her jump a little with the sudden noise. "He had vanished into thin air and I kept searching for him. For four years I prayed that I would find him. I was going to show him what a real monster could do and then I was captured myself and ended up meeting Enzo"

"Did you ever find out how he disappeared?" she asked him, looking up at him from where she lay on his chest and she shook his head.

"No, after jasmine was found on July twenty sixth it all suddenly stopped" he kissed her and slid down the bed. "Goodnight baby" he wrapped his arm around her and buried his face into her neck, closing his eyes, finally telling the story had taken it all out of him and he grew sleepy.

(new part)

Waking early he looked at her sleeping next to him and kissing her on the shoulder he crept out of bed and pulling on his clothes he made his way downstairs as quietly as he could, so not to wake her. It was their first morning waking up there and he wanted to make it special. Flipping on the coffee maker he headed to the fridge for eggs and milk. He was going to recreate the breakfast from their time spent in nineteen ninety four.

Turning up the music a little he flipped the last pancake and set it down on top of the rest and took it to the table before heading out into the back garden with the shears and snipped off two ted roses, taking them back into the house he let them fall into the vase.

"Looks good" he said to himself as he put the vase at the centre of the table and stood back, listening to see if she was awake and then an idea hit him and laughing to himself he went out into the front garden and picked up the newspaper to tease her with a new crossword puzzle. The last one almost drove her crazy. "Nice day for it" he thought to himself, unfolding the paper and seeing the date. "Nineteen fifty three" he read quietly to himself, realisation hit him. "July twenty sixth" suddenly he felt sick and fell back against the wall, closing his eyes, wiling his heart to slow down to a normal pace.

He looked down at the paper again and saw the front page headlines. Rapist Charles Parker is still on the loose after another woman has been found raped and murdered. The body of Jessica Mitchell was found naked lying in the woods three miles from her home. He let the newspaper fall from his hands. He struggled to breathe around the realisation that it had been Chuck who had raped and killed Jasmine. Pulling himself together he walked down the driveway. He needed to find Chuck and he needed to find him fast, before Bonnie woke up.

(new part)

He was almost giving up hope of ever finding him again when he found himself standing outside Jasmine's parents' house. But he knew that he would search the whole world for him to rip him to shreds. Running up onto the porch he let himself into the house and taking a deep breath he looked around the front entrance and saw him standing at the foot of the stairs.

"Good morning, Damon" Chuck smiled at him as he walked slowly towards him.

"Don't good morning me, rapist" he spat at him, grabbing him by the front of his shirt, dragging him towards him. "You don't even speak to me" Damon threw him back onto the stairs and Chuck's face paled in fear. "Oh, that isn't anywhere, near, fear. Not real fear like you gave those girls" grabbing him by the neck he dragged him up the stairs kicking and screaming, trying to fight Damon to let him go. "keep on screaming Donald" Damon chuckled angrily, slowly going out of his mind at what he could have done to Bonnie and he wouldn't have been there to save her. "No one is going to hear you" stopping he leant into his face. "Not when I cut out your tongue and make you eat it, they won't" he continued dragging him up the stairs and threw him through the bedroom door. "This is her room" he walked in and motioned around the black and white room with his hand. "Look at it" he grabbed Chuck by the neck again, forcing him to look around the girl's bedroom. "This is the room of your last victim. My then girlfriend Jasmine" Damon kicked him in the face, breaking his nose and Chuck fell back against the bottom of the bed, his hand flying up to cover his face. "She had dreams" Damon closed the bedroom door and leant against it, watching his every more. "She was going to be a marine biologist. She had two younger brothers, Jamie and Jason" Damon cocked his head to the side, his whole body yearning to rip out his throat. "Did you know that?" he asked him and he got no response. "Did you?" he yelled out and Chuck shook his head. "Well she did. Can you even begin to imagine what it was like for those little boys at Nine and ten, finding out that their big sister had been murdered by a sick prick like you" Damon's face contorted in his rage and he lashed out again by kicking Chuck in the chest, and he smiled when he heard a few ribs cracking under his foot. "And then you look at my wife" he growled feral now, every ounce of his anger from his whole life being directed at this one man. "You undressed her with your eyes" Damon flew across the room, yanking him up by his hair and went to tear out his throat, but felt sickened at the thought and so he threw him across the room and hitting the wall he fell to the floor, landing in a crumpled heap. "You were going to rape and kill my wife weren't you" he felt sick again, his own words tasting like poison in his mouth. "Weren't you" he bellowed and Chuck nodded, closing his eyes and Damon looked around the room and saw the skipping rope and picking it up he grabbed Chuck by the hair and dragged him back out of the room and threw him at the wall. "If you had then I would spend the rest of my forever torturing and killing you right here"

"I would have killed her and then you" he grew a pair as Damon crouched down in front of him. "Killing her you would never do, raping her I would make sure that you wouldn't even be able to come back from death, even in your own little prison world" he punched him in the face, knocking him out.

"Welcome back to the not so real world, rapist" Damon smirked down at him as he tied the rope a little loosely around his neck and pulling him up to his feet he threw him over the banister and leaning over he watched him struggle with a smile on his face as he slowly started to choke.

"Not long now, Donald" he laughed at him trying to at claw the loose rope around his neck to free himself. "When you come back again, I'm thinking of electrocution as your next death" he laughed again. "A slow build up to the electrifying end. Then" he stood up and walked down the stairs and stood there in the hallway looking up at him with his arms folded across his chest as he leant against the wall. "You ever drowned Don? He asked him, both his face and voice serious now. "Well Jasmine did" his face became contorted in anger again. "But that you already knew. Because you" he grabbed the fire poker and stabbed into his stomach with it. "Killed her after you raped her and then tried to rape my wife, you sick twisted fuck" Damon stabbed him through the heart and watched his body stop twitching. "No one touches my wife"

(new part)

Waking she turned and found his side of the bed empty and so she went to look for him downstairs and found the table already laid out for breakfast and sitting down she smiled to herself.

"Damon" she called out and she was starting to grow worried when she got no reply, but then she thought of the fridge in the cellar and picking up her OJ she took a swig, waiting for him to come back.

The minutes started to drag on with no sign of him and she was staring to grow afraid of what he was up too. Getting to her feet she went out onto the porch and looked around and saw the newspaper lying on the floor and picking it up she saw the headline and started to read the article. "Charles Parker raped and killed his way across Virginia. Killing a total of nineteen women to date. He is currently at large and is believed to be in Mystic Falls. Oh god" she dropped the paper and started to run down the driveway, she had to get to the shake shack before Damon could find him.

Taking a corner at break neck speed she almost tripped in her stupid shoes and picking up her layered skirts that she had worn for Damon, she ran a little faster.

"Don't do anything stupid" she sent out to the world, praying that Damon wouldn't be so stupid as to kill him or worse, getting himself killed. "Damon" she begged him silently, but she knew deep down that Damon was already killing him.

Coming to standstill outside the shake shack she pushed open the door that lead to the apartment upstairs and slowly she walked up the stairs, dreading what sight was about to greet her.

"Damon" she called out into the silent room as she walked in and that was when she realised that he wasn't there and neither was Chuck and she had no idea where Damon would have taken him.

"Jasmine" she cried out loud as the thought hit her and racing to the street that Damon had told her she had lived on, she prayed that she would be able to find her house before Damon did anything that could hurt him.

"Did you even hear what I said" she heard Damon's voice loud and shrill as she ran into the street and ran for her life towards the house. "How do you want to die this time?"

"Does she even need that top" Chuck licked his lips and stared past Damon at Bonnie as she ran into the kitchen, stopping at the sight before her eyes. "It is just in the way of her goodness" he made a move to go to her, but Damon grabbed him, stopping him in his tracks as he snarled low.

"One more step and I am ending you completely. You don't look at my wife and you don't think of my wife and you never and I mean ever try to touch her again or you will be choking on your own dick, do you understand me" he glared at him, his own eyeballs bulging. "And It's not nineteen fifty seven you prick" Damon slammed Chuck into the fridge so hard that he shattered his spine and dents the front of the fridge a little. "It is nineteen fifty three"

Bonnie shook her head and sat down; waiting for Damon's anger to subside a little before she could start trying to talk some sense into him. "Nineteen fifty three" Damon slammed him into the fridge again and, his anger rising. "The day after you killed her and all those other innocent girls' he slammed him into the fridge again, breaking his neck and he let his body drop to the floor and turned back to Bonnie. "It is ok" he smiled at her and Bonnie saw that he had now completely lost it. "He will wake up soon and then I'm going to kill him again.

"I'm sorry, Damon" she got to her feet and he saw pain written in her eyes.

"For what?" He asked her just before she knocked him out with a little psychic bump on the back of his head and she caught him in her arms. "But I have to stop you from becoming more feral"

(new part)

"So it looks like that it is just you and me" Chuck was now on his feet again and staring at her before looking down at Damon lying on the floor. "Did the big bad vampire fall?" he pulled a face that made her feel sick.

"Don't you worry" she got to her feet with a small smile. "He will be back" nibbling her bottom lip she looked down at Damon, willing him to wake up and she regretted knocking him out.

Chuck clicked his tongue at her and shook his head. "Hardly in any hurry is he" he moved across the kitchen slowly, stepping over Damon's head as he kicked him. "Oops, my bad" his hand flew to his mouth with mock disdain.

"Stay away from me or I will make you regret waking up" she threw at him, taking a step backwards, fear clutching at her tightly.

"No matter what you or your big bad not so terrifying husband can think of to do to me. Here" he waved his hand around, sneering at her, undressing her with his eyes. "I will always come back. Because this is my world bitch and not you or your pathetic excuse for a vampire husband will ever take me away from it. Don't you think I have tried" he backed her into a wall, bearing down on her. "But you and he, however, can and will die"

"Recumbo" Bonnie cried out and Chuck just laughed at her, shaking his head in pity.

"Why is it that you Bennett witches have to speak to cast a spell and why is it that I can easily block your magic without even having to lift a finger" he pouted his mouth at her and she raised her hand to smack him, but he caught it and pinned both her arms high above her head. "Et non possunt loqui" he grinned into her face and she opened her mouth to call Damon, but her voice box was frozen in her throat and her eyes widened in shock. "There" he chuckled throatily. "The big bad witch has got your tongue"

"Damon wake up" she pleaded silently as she looked down at him still lying there on the kitchen floor.

"I think I'm going to skip heaven and take you straight to hell" he gazed straight into her eyes and she opened her mouth again, but still no sounds would come out. "Oh I am going to have sex with you" he told her and she shook her head, trying to fight him off. "But I won't be gentle about it"

Bonnie raised her knee and hit home and Chuck cried out and dropped to his knees crying out in pain and she made a run for it. She was wiling Damon to wake up, but first she needed to draw Chuck out of the room. She feared he would stake him while she was running.

She suddenly felt her legs giving way and falling to the floor she felt him dive on top of her, pressing her face into the hall carpet. She felt her voice box reverberating inside her throat as her screams desperately tried to escape her.

"I always win" he rolled her forcibly onto her back, straddling her. "I will always win in the end" he tore at her top, exposing her breasts. "Perky" he smiled down at them as he caressed one with the tip of his fingers.

He lowered his head to her breasts and she lashed out with her head, making contact with his forehead, bringing tears to her eyes as a massive pain flowed through her entire skull.

"You frigid slut" he threw himself down on top of her, pressing her into the floor with his full body weight. "I am going to have you whether or not you want me too" his hand covered her mouth and nose and she thought she was going to pass out. "I like you Bonnie, don't you like me" he whispered to her as he pressed himself into her a little more. "I think I am going to love killing you, pretty little witch" he pinned her arms above her head in one hand while his free hand roamed up her skirt and yanked her underwear down.

"Damon" she tried to call out to him, but still no sounds would come and she cried in silent sobs as she tried to fight him off.

"I am going to make you hurt so badly that you will pray for death to come quicker" his mouth hit hers, shoving his tongue inside and she bit him, tasting his blood flow down her throat and she started to gag. "Not very nice" he backhanded her and she felt like her cheek had just exploded and closing her eyes she willed it to be over. "I am going to make you squeal like a pig and then" she felt his whole body weight hit hers and she sucked in a deep breath as he knocked the wind out of her and opening her eyes when he didn't move she looked up into Damon's livid face, too angry to move, he was just standing there frozen to the spot covered in blood.

"Bonnie" he cried out when his initial shock subsided a little and reaching down for her he pulled her up into his arms and held her tightly to him, stroking her hair while she cried in his arms. "I'm so sorry" he pulled them both down to his knees, his own tears freely flowing down his face. "I'm so sorry" he stroked her face with his hand, his voice cracking as he spoke to her. "I would never have kept trying to kill him if I had known he would try that with you" he fell into her and she held onto him.

(new part)

"I wasn't your fault" Bonnie told him, her hands holding onto his face. "It is just who he is as a person and nothing you or I could have done any differently could have stopped him. But you did stop him and you saved me"

Damon's face crumpled under his pain, he wanted her to be angry with him, to blame him, because he was blaming himself. "It was my fault" he looked down at Chuck's head lying on the floor a few feet away and getting to his feet he crouched and picked it up by the hair. "And there might be a way to stop him from coming back" he smirked down at the head in his hand before looking at her and smiling. "We are going to go and get that cure from the island and we are going to leave behind a little gift"

She smiled at him and he took her hand and kissed her softly. "I love how your mind works when you are not raging off on a mental trip out" she giggled and he loved the sound and grabbing her he hugged her, kissing the top of her head.

"I figured that maybe without a head he will never again be able to come back" he pulled a plastic bag from under the sink and stuffed Chuck's head inside it. "But we are going to have to leave here now" taking her head he lead her out into the garage and opened the door to Jasmine's dad's station wagon. "We'll grab some supplies from the house and leave before it starts getting dark" starting the car he drove straight through the garage door.

"You had time to open it first" Bonnie said to him, shaking her head.

He turned and looked at her. "Now where would the fun be in that?"

Half an hour later Damon was putting the tent and backpacks into the back of the car. "Is that it?" he asked her when she handed him another pack with food supplies and she nodded. "We are only going for one night" he laughed as he closed the door.

"We still have to find the" she started to say before he pulled the ascendant out of his inside jacket pocket and raised his eyebrows. "I found it on little witch scum after I drowned him in the toilet"

"In the actual toilet" Bonnie couldn't help but laugh has she pictured Damon shoving Chuck's head down the toilet.

He nodded and laughed with her. "I did and it was so much fun" his face almost cracked under the grin he gave her and he shrugged.

"So once we have the cure, we head back home and then what?" she asked him as he grinned across as her.

"We move as far away from Mystic Falls as we can get and live out the rest of our human lives happy for once" he turned onto the highway and put his foot down, wanting to start that life as quickly as he could.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

She sat on a fallen tree and watched Damon with the tent. Her eyes roamed over his body, watching his muscles moving under his skin smoothly and glancing over his shoulder he caught her watching him and his face broke out into a bright grin.

"Are you perving on me Mrs Salvatore" he chuckled, throwing the tent onto the floor, making his way over to her and she nodded up at him, smiling. "I think we have some crucial unfinished business, don't you" he wriggled his eyebrows and she copied him and taking a deep body shuddering breath he kissed her, pulling her down onto the grass with him. "I wish that we could take the cure now" he told her, brushing her hair away from her face as he stared down at her. "I can't wait to make love to you as a human"

Bonnie's heart started to beat faster and she became breathless again under his gaze. "I'm worried that it will take away my magic and we would get stuck here forever"

He nodded, watching her lips move. "I know" he pulled her on top of him and kissed her again, leaving them both breathless. "Still I cannot wait to be human again, with you" he froze, a fear gripping him tightly and he sat up and stared down at the grass.

"Damon what is wrong?" she sat up, her hand on his back, growing worried.

He shrugged, pulling out strands of grass before watching each one fall softly back onto the ground. "I'm ok" he smiled back at her over his shoulder.

"No" she spoke low, and he could hear her heart breaking for him and he hated himself for always causing her to feel his pain. "I can feel that something is bothering you" she pulled him round to face her, "Damon, please tell me. Don't block me out again"

"I'm worried in case you won't, like the human me" he closed his eyes, not wanting to see the look on her face. "I don't know if the human me will be able to offer you the same things as the vampire me and what if you won't" she put her finger to his lips and he looked deeply into her eyes.

"I didn't fall in love with the vampire that is inside of you. I fell in love with you for you and not for what you are" her hand caressed his cheek and he listened intently to her soothing tone. "I love you as a vampire and I will love you as a human. I don't care if you are able to do things for me as a vampire that you can't as a human. I don't even care if you are not the same physically. Just as long as you will remain to be yourself, in here" she laid her hand on his chest and he smiled at her. "Then I will not want for anything"

He heard that she meant every single word and pulling her towards him he kissed her until he felt like he himself was about to pass out.

(new part)

"Climb onto my back" he told her for the tenth time and annoyingly she still shook her head at him. "It will be safer for you if you are on my back where I can keep you safe" he knew that his tone was whiny, but he didn't care.

"I can jump down into a hole on my own without screwing it up, thank you" she bit at him and he felt like grabbing her and throwing her over his shoulder, but that would only annoy her and he didn't want to be a caveman with her.

"But there could be anything down there. Wood sticking up and I would never be able to live past that kind of pain if you died on me and I could have prevented it" he pleaded at her with his eyes and reluctantly she gave in and smiling he helped her up onto his back. "Thank you" he said just before he leapt down into the hole and landing softly on the balls of his feet he let her down. "Now that wasn't so bad was it?" he pulled out a flashlight and handed it to her.

"Caveman" she remarked as she took it and switched it on.

"Hey" he laughed at her, turning on his flashlight and following her deeper into the cave. "And I excused your pun"

He burst out laughing at his own joke and stopping abruptly she elbowed him in the stomach and he groaned, doubling over. "See, not as fragile as you wish to think I am" she giggled again and leaping to his feet he grabbed her and pushed her into the wall, pinning her there and she squealed.

"So you want to play rough, uh?"

Bonnie bit his lip, tasting his blood as she kissed him hard and crying out Damon bit her back and both their blood started to combine and tearing off each other's clothes they drank their own blood while he made love to her up against the cave wall.

Damon couldn't believe the feelings that flowed through his body right now. All he wanted to do was be closer to her, he wanted to reach parts of her that no one else ever could and he wanted to make the last time that they made love as vampires the best yet.

He felt his whole body shaking and holding her tightly to him he clutched at her as he felt himself exploding, losing his eyesight he closed his eyes and buried his face into the nape of her neck and kissed her.

"I love you" he breathed, feeling her body still shuddering against his own.

"I love you" she replied, breathless and pulling his head up he kissed her again with such ferocity that he feared he would kill them both.

(new part)

"Oh my god" he couldn't believe what he was seeing now and turning he looked at her before he flew across the cave and picking up the cure he stared down at it in his hand in shock. "I knew it was here, but now that I can see it for real" he turned and looked at her, a slow spreading across his face. "It makes it even more spectacular"

"Wanna go home?" she asked him, raising her eyebrows as she held her hand out for him.

Taking her hand in his he slipped the cure to her and curled her fingers around it before kissing the back and looking up at her with a smile. "I am more than ready to do this with you" Damon took her hand and smiling down at her. "There is no one else that I would ever rather be here with"

He heart lifted a little and she knew that he meant every word and she felt the same. There was no one in the world that she would rather be anywhere with, ever again. Closing her eyes she spoke the words that would lead them out of there.

"We made it" he scooped her up in his arms and swung her around the den. "Do you have it" she nodded, pulling out the cure. "Then destroy the key"

Bonnie went to the dying fire and threw it inside and with Damon at her side they both stood there and watched the key dissolve into nothing more than a lumpy metal mess. "Do I just drink it" she looked down at the small bottle in her hand.

"Yes" he whispered after kissing her on the shoulder. "Don't worry I won't let you fall" she seemed a little reluctant to drink it. "It is ok, Bon"

Bonnie tore open the cure and glanced at him standing behind her now. "Bottom's up" he grinned at her and watched her drink. "Not too bad is" her eyes fluttered closed and she fell back into his arms and carrying her up to his room, he laid her softly down on the bed, brushing her hair away from her face as he sat down by her side.

"I love you" he said to her still form, his heart breaking under his love for her.

Bonnie's eyes fluttered open and he leapt closer to her, clutching at her hand. "How do you feel?" he asked her, anxiously.

She pulled herself up into a sitting position with his help and she looked at him. "It is gone" she smiled at him, shaking her head before laughing again.

"And your magic?" he asked her, praying that it wasn't gone for fear that the one person he would never want too, hating him.

Bonnie looked at the closed curtains and pulled them open and Damon cried out in joy, throwing himself into her arms and smothering her in kisses. "You're back baby" he suddenly became serious. "Now my turn to kill the monster within" he winked at her and her face fell.

"Don't you want to wait a little bit first?"

He shook his head, stroking her cheek with the tips of his fingers. "You will be fine" he promised her and it was her turn to shake her head.

"I mean, don't you want to be a vampire a little bit longer"

Damon laughed lightly and shook his head. "I can't wait to be human with you"

Bonnie tilted her head to the side and closing his eyes Damon leant in and as gently as he could, he bit down and started to drink from her a little and raising his head he smiled at her one of his best smiles before passing out in her arms.

(new part)

"So, how do you really feel?" she asked him for the tenth time that hour and each time he kissed her softly and smiled.

"I'm great" he told her, lying next to her on the bed as night slowly started to draw in outside and he felt like nothing could break into his little cocoon with her. "I am a little blind and so deaf right now, but I feel like I could take on the whole world and win. Just as long as I have you by my side"

The bedroom door knocked and Bonnie sat up and smiling down at Damon lying in her lap she called out for them to come in. They both looked up and saw Stefan standing in the doorway and frowning he looked down at his brother and shook his head laughing.

"I can't believe that you have finally done it. But" he walked into the room and sat down on the edge of the bed, grasping Damon's hand into his. "Welcome to the life of the living brother. How do you feel?"

Pulling himself up, he climbed off the bed and shook himself a little, twisting this way and that way. "I am a little achy, but so great" he started to dance a little around the bedroom and falling back against the tallboy he started to laugh whilst trying to get his breath back. "Now this is something that I am going to have to get used to. Man am I unfit"

Stefan and Bonnie started to laugh and picking up a pillow he hit his brother over the head with it before throwing it at Bonnie.

"And unhealthy" Bonnie laughed, looking at Stefan.

"Not to mention a drunk" Stefan added and they both burst out laughing.

"Ha, ha, ha, ha, every funny" Damon said as he grabbed a shirt and pulled it on over his head and looking at Stefan he frowned. "Am I supposed to be craving blood?"

Stefan got to his feet. "It will take time for you to adjust mentally to the change. But it will pass in a few days. "Damon" he laughed, putting his hands on his arms and holding him there. "You have been a vampire for over a hundred and fifty years. You were ruthless and you drank from the vein as well as blood bags"

"Just say I drank people blood" Damon shook his head as he looked over at Bonnie still sitting on the bed and pulled a face to make her laugh.

"Yes, you drank from people, so it might take a little longer for you to accept the change emotionally" Stefan patted him arms. "But I wouldn't try and drink any if I were you"

Damon smiled and nodded at him, taking that as a challenge. "Oh you know me brother, will try anything once. Now" he said to him as he looked back down at Bonnie. "If you would excuse yourself, I am going to be busy with my wife again"

"That is all you have been doing since you woke up" Stefan laughed and shaking his head as he left the room and closed the door behind him.

"That is all I am going to be doing" he jumped on the bed and pulled his back a little and groaned. "That has never happened before" he laughed as he fell into her arms and kissed her.

Bonnie pushed him back a little. "This is the real world now Damon. One where we have to eat"

"Yeah" he said to her in surprise of not coming to that conclusion himself. "You need to eat now"

"We both need to eat now that you are human too" she cupped his face in her hands and kissed him lightly on the tip of his nose. "I'm going to have a shower. Alone" she finished when she saw his eyes light up. "You go and make some dinner, because I am starving"

Damon smiled before he got up and walked out of the room and attempted a run downstairs and gripping hold of the bannister he took a few breaths before walking down and looking at the cellar door he made his way down there.

"Let's see" he said to himself as he was stood in front of the fridge with a blood bag in his hands, his whole being craving the heady aroma.

Tearing into the bag with his teeth he cut his lip a little and winced. He had forgotten how small cuts could hurt so much, but braving it out he started to drink from the bag. He bent over and started to gag at the vile taste of it. He threw up the blood and looking down at it he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and shook his head.

"I hate it when he's right" he said to himself as he grabbed a few paper towers from the holder and dropping to his knees he cleaned it up, knowing deep down that he would miss drinking blood and taking another's life force as his own, but he also knew that Bonnie was more than worth losing the biggest part of himself that he had loved for so long.

"Damon" he heard his name being called and looking up he saw Stefan standing there, leaning against the wall with his arms folded and laughing at him. "Don't say that I didn't warn you"

"What is it?" Damon asked him, the same annoyance at his brother still able to rise quickly and he thanked whoever for that.

"There is someone here to see you and I have to go out" Stefan made a move to leave and Damon leapt to his feet and tried to grab Stefan before he moved and being all clumsy now, he missed.

"Who is it" he called after Stefan's retreating back and turning he shrugged his shoulders and ran up the stairs, leaving a confused Damon standing there in his wake.

(new part)

Damon headed into the den and saw him standing there by the fire with his back to him. "Will?"

The tall man turned and smiled at him. "Well aren't you a sight for old eyes" he flew across the room and hugged Damon. "So how have you been keeping?"

Damon sat down and watched Will's every move. "Can't complain" he replied, looking towards the door to make sure that Bonnie didn't come in.

"Damon why are you freaking out by my being here" Will sat down on the edge of the table. "You seem like a cat walking over hot bricks"

Damon laughed lightly, shaking his head. "So what brings you here?"

Will felt a little offended by the question from one of his oldest friends. "I thought I would stay a while if that was ok with you"

Damon nodded, wishing that he wouldn't, but knowing he had no other choice; he had to agree to it. "You can't feed here"

Will's eyes opened wide and he chuckled deeply. "I'm a changed man. I don't feed from the vein any more. I have myself a human girlfriend now and I am on the straight and narrow again" he sat down on the sofa opposite Damon and grinned. "Remember when you and I fought to try and bust Katherine out of a tomb that she was never even in the first place"

"Great times" Damon mumbled, still looking at the door and Bonnie walked in with a bright smile before a second later it fell away as she spotted Will sitting there. "Will, this is my wife, Bonnie"

It was now will's face to drop in shock. "You got married and it wasn't to the doppelganger Elaine" he whistled low.

"Elena and yes" Damon took Bonnie's hand as she sat down next to him. "Will here and I used to be in the army together and he is staying here for a few days"

"Oh" she said in surprise. "Is he staying for dinner with us?"

Damon shook his head. "He is eating here, but I am taking you out to eat" getting to his feet he took her hand and pulled her up. "There are plenty of blood bags in the basement if you have gone veggie and if not, the woods behind the house have lots of vegan options" he smirked at him before leading Bonnie out of the house and opened his car door for her and climbing in he started the car and drove down the driveway and out onto the street. "This is bad" was all he said as they made their way to the restaurant. "Will doesn't come here unless he has an ulterior motive" pulling out his phone he called Stefan. "Whatever you do, don't let on to Will that you have taken the cure" he listened to Stefan. "He will want it for himself. So whatever you do, don't hang around him" ending the call Damon tapped his phone against his bottom lip, deep in thought and Bonnie sat next to him worried.

(new part)

"Just stop it" Bonnie almost yelled at him as she grabbed a hold of his hand, but quickly pulled it back and spoke gently and raising his eyes from spilling the salt onto the table cloth he shrugged at her gloomily. "What is so wrong about Will?"

"Where would you like me to start?" Damon looked back down at the salt on the table and traced patterns in it with the tip of his finger.

"From where you want too" she patted his hand that she now held and looking up at her he smiled a little.

"Will is or was I don't know anymore. I haven't really seen him since the late Nineties" he felt a twinge in his chest and his heart started to beat a little faster, his lips going a little numb, but he ignored it and carried on talking to her. "One of the most ruthless vampires that I have even known"

"Worse than you" she teased him, taking a sip from her wine glass.

"Worse than me at my worst" he told her and her mouth dropped a little. "We all served together. It was Will, Henry, George and I. But all that changed after we all went home and after I met and fell for Katherine, along with Stefan. But little did I know" he told her, shifting a little uneasy in his seat. "She had also met Will when she came to stay with us after the fake fire that had killed her entire family" he made little air quotes and she had to stifle a giggle that he had. "And little did we know, Stefan and me that she was also sleeping with him and feeding him her blood. And after father killed Stefan and I as we fought to free Katherine. Will took his own life and we then fought together to try and free the one woman who both loved"

"And then what?" she asked him and he shook his head and laughed at the same time.

"We turned against each other at every turn and the closer we were to freeing Katherine, the worse to each other we became. He even killed Joseph Salvatore in nineteen fifty three" she gasped and he nodded. "Stefan always blamed me for that one. Now I wouldn't take the" he stopped talking and shook his head again, knowing that he couldn't get away with what he once could. "It was around the time that Jasmine had been found dead and so, as you know Stefan, he always puts two and four together to try and reach five. He assumed that I was lashing out after yet another failed attempt at finding the real killer after I blamed Will and he fled back to New York" he finished finding it harder to breathe.

"Are you ok?" she mouthed at him just as the waiter arrived and he smiled at her, taking her hand into his.

"Never better" he lied smoothly and was glad that he could still lie to her, he didn't want her to know how freaked out he was starting to feel.

"Damon you seem to be getting a lot out of breath lately. You feel ok? And if you say, never better one more time, I'm going to clock you one" she warned him.

"Just a little out of breath" he told her honestly, still fighting to get his breathing back on control. "But I haven't been human since eighteen sixty four and it is going to take me a while to get used to having to remember to breathe"

"I think we should make an appointment at the doctors" she cringed inside over his reaction, but that was quickly replaced by shock when he nodded in agreement. "I mean, it is probably nothing. But we should still get you checked out"

"We'll make it tomorrow" he smiled across the table at her, wishing that they had eaten at home so he could ravish her instead of his steak. "And it will be nothing, probably asthma from all those cigars I used to smoke. No biggie" he reached across the table and cupped her hand in his own. "I promise you that I am going to be fine. Fine and dandy and never better" he winked at her, knowing that would drive her crazy and seeing her face he smiled a little more, knowing that he still had it.

"What if it is something more" she couldn't finish what she wanted to say and Damon slid his chair closer to hers, seeing her in pain caused his heart to beat too fast and he found his breaths coming little and far between again.

Damon brushed the hair away from her face with a little smile. "I will never leave you" he told her, his hands moving to cup her face. "I have waited all my life for you and I am never going anywhere" he kissed her. "I give you my word"

She smiled at him, holding onto his hand that was still holding her face. "I have an idea" she kissed him once before pulling away.

"And what idea might that be?" he asked her with a cheeky smile, hoping that she was about to say what he was thinking and have sex in the coat room.

"That we should lay flowers for Jasmine" she picked up her wine glass and took a sip, watching him for any kind of reaction that she had pulled a bad move.

His face fell into a frown and then brightened up again with a smile. "I think that is a great idea" he grabbed both of her hands in his. "Thank you" he kissed them, looking up and holding her gaze. "I don't know what I have done in my life to deserve you. But whatever it was I am grateful for it and I never want to lose you, no matter what" she stroked his face.

"I'm never going to leave you either" she promised him, and shaking his head he laid his face on her arm, closing his eyes and wishing he had realised his feelings for her a lot sooner than he had allowed himself too.

(new part)

It was a warm day as they both made their way through the cemetery and they each carried a bunch of flowers. Damon held her hand tightly and every few seconds he couldn't help but look at her, his insides on fire just from the sight of her at his side. He still couldn't believe that she was in love with him too. Or that she agreed to marry him.

He knew he had spent his vampire life as an arrogant, mean, twistedly evil jerk. But she still saw past all of that, every single bad trait he had thrown to the surface to keep people away. She had looked past it all and saw the real him underneath all that wit and humour he had used to protect himself. And he would always be grateful to her for saving his life. Even though he hated it. Now he was grateful that she had taken him from Mystic Falls and went with him to his grandparents home in Italy, or he would have died under the hands of Julian's back up dancers and for her, he would cherish that. Because he would never have had all those moments with her. And he would never have known the joy of being a human in love again.

"Why are you eye ball stalking me pervert" she teased him, bumping into him with her hip and he started to chuckle, bumping her back a little.

"I just can't believe that I am lucky enough to have you as my wife" he told her honestly and her eyes glistened over with tears again, and he would never be able to get over the way she looked at him. "And I don't know what you had done to be stick with me, but whatever it was, you were evil" his tone turned teasing and she started to giggle.

Pulling a face she looked up at him with a twinkle in her eye. "I think I might have stepped on a snail at some point" she laughed and he bumped her with his hip again. "Nah just kidding" she pulled him to a stop and grabbing him around the waist she pulled him into her and kissed him long and hard, and he became breathless. Bonnie pulled away and looked up at him with a smile. "Whatever I did to have you in my life was one of the best things I could ever have. I love you and I will always be in love with you. So stop with the wit and just accept that you are a good person deep down and I'm the lucky one"

"No, I'm the lucky one" he pulled her closer again and kissed her and when they broke away Bonnie looked past him.

"Is that her?" she pointed to a white stone of a weeping angel and turning round he looked at it and nodded. "What a beautiful headstone" she smiled up at him as she took his hand and they walked towards the grave together.

Damon shook his head. "I have always thought it to be creepy" he admitted out loud for the first time ever.

"What. Why?" she asked him shocked now, looking from him to the kneeling angel. "How can an angel be creepy?" she had no idea what went through his head most of the time.

"When it rains it looks like the angel is crying" he told her and she nodded, biting her lip. "And that is just creepy"

Bonnie let his hand go and walked closer to the graveside and looked down at the inscription. "Here lays Jasmine Elizabeth Davison" she read to herself and felt her heart twist a little for the girl. "She was nineteen years old" her hand flew to her mouth and turning she looked at Damon in sympathy, but he simply shrugged and laid his flowers down and walked off towards the older part of the cemetery and she let him be alone. "Hello" she said as she crouched down, laying her flowers next to Damon's "I'm Bonnie" she touched the weeping face of the angel and smiled faintly. "I know he loved you, a lot. But I promise you that I am going to take great care of him. Because I love him too. Thank you for being in his life. You were special to him and I know he still hurts over your death. But I want you to know that he has found out who killed you and he has made him pay" she choked a little, a tear running down her face for both Damon and Jasmine. "I promise to take care of his heart for you" she stood up and turning she came face to face with Damon, who took her in his arms and held onto her tightly.

"You truly are amazing, do you know that" she shook her head against his chest and he held her while she cried against him, with him stroking her hair. "You are the most amazing woman that I have ever had in my long life and I can't wait to grow old with you" kissing the top of her head he lead her back to the car. "I love you"

Damon opened the car door for her and he felt a sudden twinge inside his chest and he pulled a face. "What is wrong?" she asked him panicking.

"Nothing is wrong" he lied to her with a smile. "I'm fine and dandy, remember" he closed the car door and made a move to walk around the car, but he stood still, his hand clutching at his chest as the world started to spin out on him and grow darker as little bright lights started to dance in front of his eyes and he fell to the floor.

"Damon" he heard her yelling from somewhere in the distance before the darkness swallowed him whole.

"Can I get an ambulance to the Mystic Falls cemetery" she spoke quickly down the phone, kneeling at Damon's side. "He just clutched at his chest and fell to the floor" she told them before hanging up and calling Stefan. "It is Damon" she sobbed into the phone when he answered. "We are at the cemetery by Jasmine's grave and he is just lying there. I think it is his heart"

(new part)

Sitting at his bedside she clutched at his hand, tears flowing down her face nonstop and she had never been so afraid of anything in her entire life. She looked across at Stefan's grave face and he caught her eye and shook his head, biting his lip.

"He is going to be ok" he said as he nodded at her, but he knew that it was more for his own benefit than it was for hers. "Damon is a fighter and he would never give up this easily. Not if it is for something that he really wants"

Bonnie opened her mouth to speak when the door opened and in walked a tall dark haired woman wearing a white doctor's coat.

"I'm doctor, Bronwyn Taylor" she smiled at them both. "You must be Bonnie and Stefan?" she moved around Bonnie and picked up Damon's file and scanned it with her eyes. "His stats are all back to normal and when he wakes up, you can take him home"

"What is wrong with him?" Bonnie asked and the doctor turned and frowned at them both.

"Didn't anyone come and tell you?" she asked them and they both shook their heads. "Damon has a congenital defect in the septum of his heart. Or more commonly known as a hole in the heart" she frowned as she picked up the file again and started to read. "Didn't you know that he had been born with the condition?" again they both shook their heads. "It seems that Damon had been born with a slight hole in his septum that separates the atria. And it should have closed up on its own and I have no idea why it hasn't been detected before now" she read more of his chart and tapping her pen against it she frowned at Bonnie. "And it appears that the hole has started to grow bigger and now his right atrium is lightly pressing down on his left"

"I don't understand" Bonnie looked across at Stefan for help.

"Damon was born with what we would call a secundum heart defect and it should have closed on its own. It is the more common condition. But now it has reached sinus venosus. The hole has now widened to the upper part of his atrial septum instead of remaining in the middle. Currently it is close to a large vein, the superior vena cava, which takes the oxygen-poor blood from the upper body to the right atrium. And that is why he has been getting more out of breath easily due to the left atrium pressing lightly on the right, stopping the flow of oxygen. But he will be fine" she took out a bottle of pills from her pocket and handed them to Bonnie. "He needs to take three four times a day while we wait for surgery"

"Surgery" Bonnie and Stefan both gasped, staring at each other before looking from Damon back to the doctor.

"With those pills he will be fine until we can fit him in. He needs to have open heart surgery to raise his chances at a normal life"

"Will he need a transplant?" Stefan asked her and she looked at him gravely.

"Only if we find more complications after opening him up" she put her hand on his shoulder. "It doesn't seem to be that bad at the moment. We just need to open him up and go inside to try and close up the hole in his septum. Your brother will be in good hands. If you have any more questions, I will be here to answer them" she looked down at her pager. "I will pop back in, in an hour to check on him" and with that she was gone, leaving Bonnie and Stefan staring at each other in shock.

(new part)

Doctor Taylor walked back into the room half an hour later. "There seems to be a little bit of a problem with Damon's paper work" she looked down at the forms in her hand and frowned. "It says here that Damon Giuseppe Salvatore was born on June eighteenth" she looked from Bonnie to Stefan. "Eighteen thirty nine"

"That is ludicrous" Bonnie gasped, not sure how to get out of this one. "Does he look a hundred and seventy seven years old" she shook her head and laughed lightly and looked over at Stefan for help, but he was sat there staring at the doctor, frozen to the spot.

There was a blur and both gasped out loud when they saw Caroline standing in front of the doctor. "I do believe you have his right date of birth written down there as June eighteenth nineteen ninety one. He is twenty four years old. Now leave" she told her and nodding the doctor walked back out of the room and closed the door softly behind her.

"Caroline" Stefan gasped when he saw her and turning slowly she looked at him sitting on the other side of Damon.

"Stefan" she looked thrilled, but there was remorse dropping in her tone. "How are you?" she sat down on the seat next to him, putting her hand on his arm. "I'm sorry I have been MIA since you arrived back from Italy. What with the twins and"

"Me becoming human again" he finished for her and she shook her head.

"No" she cried out in alarm. "I would never do that"

"But you could fall in love with Alaric" he muttered turning to look back at his brother still lying there on the hospital bed.

"You slept with Elena" she said angrily as she got to her feet and left the room, closing the door softly behind her.

"I never did" he told Bonnie as she looked across at him in sympathy. "I only drank the cure from her and that was it"

She opened her mouth to speak when she heard Damon say her name and she leapt to her feet and threw her arms around him.

"You are awake" she cried out in joy as Stefan sprung to his feet on the other side of the bed.

"Where am I?" he asked as he looked around wide eyed and confused.

"You collapsed at the cemetery" Stefan told him, taking a hold of his hand.

"Why?" Damon asked them as he tried to sit up, but Bonnie wouldn't let him until a doctor came in and checked him over to make sure he was ok. "I'm fine" he croaked, his throat dry and she handed him a glass of water. "Can it be scotch" he asked raising his eyebrows at her and she shook her head, smiling that he seemed to be his usual self. "Worth a try" he chuckled before gasping for air again and holding up his hand to stop her from pressing the buzzer. "Just a little twinge" he promised her and she looked at him warily. "I give you my word, I'm ok" taking the glass from him she put it on the bedside table and threw herself back into his arms again.

"I thought I'd lost you" she cried into his chest, with him holding on tightly to her head.

"I told you, I'm not going anywhere"

(new part)

"I'm fine" Damon shouted at them both as they fussed over him walking into the house. "Just leave me alone" he went into the den and stood on the top step. "Don't follow me" he told them both over his shoulder and they both backed off and allowed him the space he needed to get his head around it all in his own way.

He was drinking a glass of scotch as Will came into the room and sat down on a chair next to the fire.

"Help yourself" Damon told him as he picked up the poker and nodding his head, Will poured himself a glass and leant on the edge of the table.

"Something is different about you" Will said, looking at Damon in confusion.

"Still the same old me" Damon finished poking the fire and stood up, trying not to wince to show Will how much pain he was in, he needed him to still think of him as his equal.

"No" Will stared at him. "There is something different about you"

Damon shook his head and started to laugh, despite the pain in his chest. "I think you might have had a little too much" he made a drinking motion and Will burst out laughing with him before it fell away to silence and Damon looked at Bonnie as she entered the den.

"You took the cure" he got to his feet quickly and put down his glass. "Didn't you?"

Damon nodded and shrugged at the same time, still feeling his cocky and powerful self. "So what if I did" he glared at him.

Will moved too fast for either Damon or Bonnie to be able to stop him and his teeth hit his neck and he started to drink deeply and Bonnie heard Damon crying out in a strangled scream.

Bonnie clutched at his mind, but Will just stood there and took it while he fervently continued to drink from Damon and she ran at him and threw herself onto his back. But he lashed out and elbowed her in the face and dropping to the floor she felt herself passing out.

"Sorry Damon, but I need it for" Will started to say before he dropped to the floor next to Damon just as Stefan walked in.

"He took the cure from Damon" she sobbed to him when Stefan helped her to sit up and with her heart breaking she crawled across the room and rolled Damon over onto his back. "Is he" she asked Stefan crouching at her side and he shook his head. "What do we do" she asked him as she pulled Damon's head up onto her lap. "What do we do?" she almost yelled when he didn't answer her.

"I don't know" he fell to his knees, his hand on her shoulder, staring past her at Damon lying there on her lap. "All he wanted was to be happy" he crumbled now, his whole soul felt like it was being torn from his body. "He just wanted to be loved in the same intense way that he loved"

"Stefan, I" they both turned and looked at Caroline standing just behind them. "Shall I call an ambulance" she flew across the room, her phone in her hand.

Climbing back to his feet, Stefan shook his head. "There is no point. Will took the cure from him"

"I'll feed him my blood" she tore into her wrist with her teeth, already knowing that it wouldn't do any good.

Stefan took her hand in his and shaking his head. "It wouldn't help him. The cure blocks any kind of magic from working"

Caroline looked down at Bonnie and Damon in front of the fire, her heart was breaking. "Klaus" she said suddenly, having an idea slam into her, almost knocking her for six and Stefan stared at her. "He is the original hybrid. So what if his blood can help save him"

"No" Stefan said. "Nothing helped Katherine"

"We didn't think of it then" Bonnie said to them both, her eyes never leaving Damon's pale face. "Help me get him into the car" she laid Damon's head gently down on the floor and climbed back to her feet.

"Why?" Stefan asked her stooping to pick Damon up.

"I'm taking him to New Orleans to see Klaus" and with that she walked out of the room with both Caroline and Stefan walking out behind her.

"Do you want me to come?" Stefan asked as she climbed into the driver's seat of Damon's Camaro.

"No" she shook her head. "I am going to have to do this one alone" and starting the car she said her goodbyes and drove away, leaving them both staring after her and glancing in her rear view mirror she saw Stefan fall into Caroline's arms, breaking down. "You need to remain strong" she told herself looking at her reflection in the mirror. "He needs you. They all do" pulling out of the driveway she took a left and glanced over her shoulder at Damon still unconscious in the back seat. "I will find a way to save you or die trying" she promised him and taking a deep breath she put her foot down and headed for the highway.

(new part)

Bonnie looked at Damon lying in the back seat, his eyes staring at her and he tried to open his mouth to speak to her but no words would come. He closed his eyes when they came to a stop and opening them again he saw her climb out of the car and leaning into the back she kissed him on the forehead.

"I will be back as soon as I can" he heard the promise in her tone before she closed the car door and looking up at the huge foreboding house she walked across the sidewalk and slipped down the side of the house and walking through the open gate she knocked at the door.

"Bonnie" Elijah said in surprise when he saw her standing on the doorstep and moving back he motioned for her to enter. "What can we do for you?"

"I need to see Klaus" she told him and he heard the urgency in her tone.

"He isn't here right now" Elijah told her leading her through into the sitting room. "But I can call him" she nodded as she sat down and he pulled out his phone.

(new part)

The cold night air was drawing in around him and he shivered a little. He wished that he wasn't so defected and that he could have lived a long and healthy life with Bonnie. But he knew that it was never going to be. He sifted a little on the back seat and tried to sit up but a pain hit his chest and struggling to breathe he fell back down and closed his eyes.

"No" he said to himself, hating himself even more than ever that he was going to have to break the one promise he never wanted to, and leave her. "Not yet" he pleaded to whoever would listen to his plight. "I am not ready to leave her just yet"

An agonising twinge took his breath away as a pain shot through his left arm, he clutched at his chest as tears sprung to his eyes. Everything was starting to turn blurry and gasping for air he clutched at his throat. Praying for time to say goodbye to her.

(new part)

"Then you will leave me no other choice than to take it from you" she screamed at him, wanting to punch him in the throat. "My husband is out there right now in his car, dying" she spat the words with such a force that even Elijah felt the backlash of them from the kitchen. "If I have to kill you myself for just a mouthful of your blood, then so be it" her hands formed tight fists at her side and Klaus laughed at her. "Don't push me" she snarled at him, her anger overtaking her again.

"And what makes you think that my blood is going to save his life" he asked her, filling up a glass with bourbon and took a long slow sip.

"I don't know" she folded and sat down on the edge of the couch, Klaus watching her tears start to fall and he pitied her. "But I have to at least try"

"What if it were you in her positon" Elijah walked in and looked across at his brother. "Imagine Camille was outside in the car, dying, and the only thing that could save her life was the most potent blood in the world"

"Then I would tear the whole world apart until I got it" Klaus replied, looking down at Bonnie and shaking his head he bit into his wrist and filled a clean glass and handed it to her. "Go" he told her as she got to her feet and with shaking hands she took the glass from him, staring at it. "You don't have a lot of time"

"Thank you" she called as she ran towards the door and stopping she turned round and gave them both a weak smile. "Thank you both" and with that she was out the door and running down the stairs and out onto the street. "Damon" she practically threw herself into the back seat and lifting his head up she held the glass to his mouth and he started to drink while she kissed the top of his head that she was now cradling in her arms.

"Bonnie I need to say something to you" his voice was low and she struggled to hear him properly.

"Tell me later" she pressed her face into the top of his head, crying silent tears.

"I need to tell you now" he started to cough and she was hoping he wouldn't cough up the blood he had just drank. "I need you to know this before I" he couldn't bring himself to say it, knowing that she was already breaking down as she held onto him ferociously. "I have loved you since that very first time that I saw you standing there at that cauldron outside the school at that Halloween party. Do you remember?" he asked her, looking up at her and she nodded against him. "I tried to take the crystal from you and you burnt me" he laughed a little and she laughed with him, her heart crushing inside her chest like someone was stepping on it with huge boots on.

"Is that crystal with a K" she tried to lighten the mood and he laughed a little more and she heard the pain buried within it and she squeezed her eyes tightly shut, wanting to block out what she knew was coming. "But I was so hell bent on getting Katherine out of that tomb that I didn't allow myself to see you properly to realise. But you intrigued me" he found himself unable to breathe again and taking a few deep breaths he spoke through the pain that was stealing his life away from him. "But If I had to choose between living a hundred years without you or living just for a day with you" he clutched at her hand and started to cough again. "I would rather use my last breath to say I love you" Bonnie's eyes filled with tears and she couldn't bear to let him go. "I have lived for over a hundred and seventy years" he told her, his free hand reaching up to caress her face. "But these past few months have been the happiest of my entire existence. I don't want to die" he admitted to her, but he knew that he was as he was growing weaker by the second. "But I am ready too. I have your love and that is all that is important to me. Just remember that I love you and I will always be with you, in here" his hand touched her heart for just a second before his eyes went flat and he stilled and screaming she threw herself down on top of him in the back seat.

"I'm pregnant" she cried into him, shaking his still body with her own, wishing that she had gotten the chance to tell him before he died.

Looking up she saw Klaus standing outside the car, his face pale as he stared down at Damon lying in her arms and opening the door he helped her out and he pulled her into him and hugged her tightly.

"Let's get you both inside" he let her go and gently lifted Damon from the back seat and closed the door with his foot and walking back towards the compound with Bonnie on his heels, he let a single tear fall down his face.

"Can you make something for Bonnie?" he asked Freya as they climbed the stairs to the landing. "She is pregnant and in shock"

"Yeah" Freya took Bonnie's hand in her own as they both stood there and watched Klaus walking away with Damon. "He will be fine with Klaus" Freya promised her.

"He's dead" Bonnie spoke low, still not wanting to believe that he was herself.

"I know sweetheart" Freya said in soothing tones, squeezing her hand. "But let's get you something for the shock" Bonnie nodded and allowed her to lead her in the opposite direction, but she wanted nothing more than to be with Damon.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

"Is he?" she asked Klaus when he walked into the room and slowly he nodded and made her heart explode in her chest.

"I'm sorry Bonnie" he said as he sat down next to her and took the drink from Freya. "Drink this"

She didn't know if it was shook that had made her drink the fowl smelling liquid or if it was the need to be with Damon again. But she took it and tipping it to her lips, drank it down.

"What was it?" she asked him and shaking his head she fell into him and she felt Klaus cradle her in his arms, stroking her hair just like Damon used to do and if she scrunched her eyes up tightly enough, maybe she could feel Damon again and so she did.

"Looks like she is already going" she heard Freya say as if from a great distance away. "You can put her in the room next to mine so I can keep an eye on her throughout the night"

Bonnie was weightless now and she was having trouble remembering where she was or why her heart was aching. She felt herself being lifted and carried off somewhere as the darkness pulled her deeper within it and when she sunk further, the closer to peace she become.

"Bon" she heard his voice calling out softly to her and opening his eyes she looked up into bright blue ones, her heart started to sing out in a tune that only his own could answer.

"Damon" she threw her arms around his neck, hanging onto his like he was her one and only life-support. "I thought you were dead"

He sat back a little and lifted her face up to his own and looked down at her with sombre eyes. "Here, no one will ever be dead" he placed his hand on her chest and smiled down at her faintly. "You are going to need to remember that I will always be here. Deep inside you, don't ever let go"

"I promise" she nodded to him, her heart breaking all over again. "Please don't leave me" she begged him and pulling her into his arms he laid back against the wall, cradling her close to him.

"I told you" he kissed the side of her face, never wanting to let her go. "I'm not going anywhere" she heard the promise in his tone and started to feel a little better. "Close your eyes and try and sleep and I promise I won't leave you"

She settled back against his chest and he felt so soft and so warm that she had trouble keeping her eyes open and she felt herself drifting peacefully off to sleep wrapped in his warm embrace.

"What did you give her" Klaus frowned at Bonnie as Freya entered the room.

"Just a little sleeping concoction laced with a safe hallucinogen" he nodded and they both walked out of the room, closing the door softly behind them.

"Keep an eye on her" Klaus told his sister, still in shock himself at the impulsive Salvatore's death. "She is carrying precious cargo. I'm going to need to call Stefan" Freya's eyes flew open. "Damon is his older brother. And I need a drink" and with that he walked off to make that one phone call he would never have thought he would ever have to make.

(new part)

Opening his eyes he groaned. He had no idea how much he had had to drink the night before. But it must have been a hell of a lot more than him at his most drunk. Shaking his head he groaned again when the light spilling in from the curtains burned his eyes. He needed some coffee, water and a blood bag. Rubbing at his face he swung his feet over the side of the bed and looked around the room with a frown, but shaking off his confusion he made his way to the door and out onto the landing. He had no idea what had happened last night. Everything was still all a blur and he prayed that he hadn't done anything stupid for the reason he had woken up alone and he knew that if he had, then he would be prepared to grovel for forgiveness for the next century.

Opening the fridge he found a blood bag and closing it behind him he tore off the little tab with his teeth and drank it down in one as he gazed around the kitchen, spying the coffee maker. He pushed himself off the counter and started to rummage through cupboards for a mug.

"Coffee" he said to the pot as he picked it up and started to pour himself a mug of strong black coffee. "The one substance that makes a vampire warm inside. "Good morning" he said with a smile as he heard someone walk into the kitchen and turning his face fell. "Who the hell are you?"

"Damon" the blonde girl smiled at him, pulling a mug down from the cupboard above his head. "You made it"

"Made it?" he asked her frowning, watching her every move.

"Yeah, after they brought you in I gave you a special concoction that helped speed up my brother's blood" she looked at him, shaking her head with a smile "And it worked"

"Who are they?" he asked her with a little smirk. "And who is your brother"

"Klaus to both, and Bonnie" she replied as his face fell. "You died" she told him just as Klaus walked into the room with a little grin.

"So the big badass vampire is alive" he grabbed the mug from Freya and took a sip. "She will be pleased when she wakes up"

"Where is she?" he demanded of him, wanting to see her to make sure that she was ok.

"Down the corridor and second door from the left" he replied as Damon slammed his mug down onto the counter and flew towards the room and barging in he found her sleeping in bed and he ran to her side and climbed up onto the bed with her, wrapping his arms around her and she started to stir.

"Damon" she whispered to him, clinging onto his hand that lay on her stomach. "Don't leave me"

He heard the pain in her tone and his heart stopped beating and wrapping his arms around her tightly, he nuzzled into her neck. "Never, ever" he promised her, closing his eyes. "I am never leaving you"

(new part)

She opened her eyes and looked up at him lying behind her, his arms still wrapped around her. "You're alive" she cried out in joy as she turned over and threw her arms around his neck.

"Of course I am" he laughed, holding her back as tightly as she held him. "Or rather, one of the undead" he winked at her and she sat up slowly and shook her head and that was when it hit him. "I died" he said to himself, unsure what to make of it all. "You gave me some blood in the back of the car and I died. I remember dying. I'm a vampire again. But"

"No buts" she kissed him hard, never wanting to let go for fear of losing him again. "You are here now and that is all that matters to me"

"But I'm a vampire again" he shook his own head now, wishing that he could be human with her again.

"You were always meant to be a vampire" Bonnie told him with a bright smile. "I'm also pregnant"

He sat up and looked down at her, a huge smile spreading across his face as he laid his hand softly on her stomach. "We are having a baby?" he asked her, wanting so badly to believe what his own ears was telling him now and he didn't care anymore that he was a vampire when she nodded back at him. "Thank you" he grabbed her and pulled her into his arms and kissing the top of his head he hugged her. "I love you" he smiled, pressing his face against hers. "You have given me the greatest gift anyone could ever give to me"

There was a knocking at the door and Stefan walked slowly inside, followed by Elena. "Damon" he said, his voice breaking and leaping off the bed, Damon hugged him.

"I'm here" he told his brother, holding on tightly. "And I am never going anywhere"

Stefan nodded against him, trying to hold back his tears, but they flowed fast and he had no other choice but the let them go.

"I'm going to be a father" he told Stefan, who pulled himself together and stared into Damon's face.

"I'm going to be an uncle?" he was both shocked and excited. "Congratulations" he cried out, hugging him again.

"Bon, you're pregnant" Elena gasped as she ran towards the bed and leapt on. "Oh my god, Bon, this is amazing news" she said hugging her.

"Auntie Elena" Bonnie pulled a face and both girls started to laugh in joy and turning Damon looked at Bonnie on the bed with a smile.

(new part)

He was out on the balcony leaning over the railing gazing out at the garden as he drank a glass of scotch. He shook his head, unable to believe his own life at that moment in time. But he knew that he loved and cherished every single moment of it. Taking a sip from the glass he marvelled how far his life had come in just over a year. His smiled seemed to be permanently stuck on his face and he didn't care. In fact he loved it.

"Colton is the most perfect little baby I have ever held" he turned and saw Elena standing beside him on the balcony, her arms folded as she leant and looked at him, a smile on her face and he nodded, knocking his drink back.

"I still can't believe that I had a part in making something so perfect" he admitted to her and she smiled him, her hand covering his. "Right now I am the happiest man alive and I have this fear that something is going to come and take it all away from me" he closed his eyes for a spilt second before looking back out over the garden. "And that is why we have decided that we are going to take Colton and move out into the countryside, away from all the dramas of Mystic Falls" he looked at Elena and she nodded in agreement with him.

"You were never going to be human for me, were you?" Elena suddenly asked him and he shook his head.

"No, it was always for me" Damon pulled himself away from the railing before leaning back against it and looked at her, waiting for her reaction.

"But you did want to be human for Bonnie?" she asked and he nodded again.

"I'm sorry, Elena" he told her, meaning every word.

He was sorry. Sorry for not knowing sooner that it had been Bonnie that his heart secretly cried out for. Sorry that he had to hurt her in the process. But he would never be sorry for finally admitting his true feelings and marrying his best friend. And he would never be sorry for having a son.

"Elena, I" he started to say before she interjected.

"We would never have gone the distance" she smiled at him, taking a hold of his hand again. "We were toxic and we were selfish and we were not good for each other. But you and Bonnie are none of those things" she looked back into the room and smiled at Bonnie sleeping peacefully on the bed. "You and Bonnie are so good together. You each bring things out in the other that I doubt even you both knew you had. You are good and you make each other want to be good"

"What about you?" he asked her, watching Bonnie sleeping for a few seconds before looking back at Elena with a wry smile.

She shrugged her shoulders. "I'm going to go back to school and become a doctor and fall in love with a human boy and get married and have children of my own, one day" he nodded at her with a bright smile and putting his arm around her he hugged her.

"And you will make him as happy as Bonnie makes me"

"I have always been able to see how much you loved and cared for her, Damon" she finally admitted out loud. "I just didn't want to believe it. But I couldn't be happier for you"

Damon broke out into a beaming smile as he watched her sleeping on the bed again. "I had never realised before we went to Florence. But everything for you I did, I was really doing it for her" Elena smiled up at him and nodded just as Bonnie started to stir and he flew to her side, sitting on the bed and clutching at her hand. "He is perfect" he smiled down at her, tears flowing to his eyes again as he remembered the pain that he had put her through a few hours ago. "He is so perfect. And you were amazing, Bon" he kissed her on the forehead, smiling down at her.

"Where is he?" she asked him as he helped her to sit up in bed.

"He is sleeping fast in the crib" he nodded across the room before helping her out of bed and holding onto her they walked across the room and gazed down at their son Colton sleeping and she held his hands tightly.

"I can't believe he is ours" she told him, still staring down at their son in wonder. "He is too perfect"

"He is perfect" Damon agreed before pulling her round to face him. "And we are perfect together" he kissed her softly.

Bonnie smiled at him and he believed for the first time in his whole existence that he truly deserved it all. "I love you" he whispered into her ear as they both gazed back down at their son sleeping peacefully in his crib. "My heart is over flowing for you both" her hand held onto his and he slipped his free arm around her and pulling her in, he kissed the top of her head.

"I love you both" Bonnie whispered back and Damon had never heard anything so true in his entire life.

"We leave tomorrow" he told her, his chin resting in the crock of her neck, both of them still watching their son sleeping peacefully. "And then we start the rest of our lives safe, happy and forever"

Closing her eyes she nodded against him. "I can't wait.

Infallible 2; the second part of Bamon's trilogy will be up soon


End file.
